Who knew?
U.S. crude traded down $3.40 to $133.60 a barrel by 1:24 p.m. EDT. London Brent crude fell $2.90 to $133.55 a barrel. U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 800,000 barrels to 301.8 million barrels in the week to June 20, the Energy Information Administration reported, countering expectations of a draw. The build came as U.S. gasoline demand, which has fallen as high fuel prices force motorists to adjust their driving habits, dipped 2.1 percent…
The surprising statistic is not that oil can move $3-4 on an 800,000 barrel increase in inventories, but that the US has total oil inventories of over 300 million barrels. Who knew the number was that high?
June 25th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Who knew the number was that high?
300 million barrels is about a two-week supply.
June 25th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
The United States uses something on the order of 20M barrels of oil per day, or a bit less than 25% of world oil consumption, so 302M barrels is about 2 weeks of inventory. That’s actually a pretty lean supply chain for an international sourced product.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
that’s just our crude inventories, not gasoline, kerosene and diesel.
and not the strategic reserve, either.
if we drilled for oil here – in anwr and off the coasts of FL and CA the number would doubtless be higher.
an the price lower.
but the left wants neither.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Oil inventories over a year ago were at 335 million barrels. Gas and distillates were roughly the same.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200704/26/eng20070426_369871.html
June 27th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
No, it does not include inventories of finished products, but so what? 2 weeks of inventories for the entire nation’s refining industry is a tight suppply chain. The industry needs an inventory buffer on both sides of the refining equation. 300M barrels seems like a lot, but its one barrel per person. A big car uses about a barrel every two weeks.
Yes, we should clearly open up our reserves, search for more, and invest in new technologies for energy. These are the only ways to lower the price. The left doesn’t want lower prices, but rather wants less energy usage. (Less people and less per person.) I want lower prices. I like modern civilization.