EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report: Talking Points

• Crude oil imports ↑536,000 bpd last week, driving a larger-than-expected 3.0 million barrel increase in crude oil stocks
• Refineries are slowly ramping up: Utilization ↑1.4% as Cushing, OK crude oil stocks ↓700,000 barrels, the 7th consecutive weekly decrease
• Distillate fuel demand was soft: Inventories ↓600,000 barrels vs. ↓1,600,000 barrels expected
• Moderately bullish Gasoline draw-down: Stocks fell by 900,000 vs. 400,000 barrel build expected
• Cracks reacted differently: Heat crack sold off $0.45 in Apr0 to trade $6.48 while Apr0 RBOB crack rose the same amount to $12.34