U.S. petroleum deliveries during September increased year over year however, “comparisons against year-ago figures are muddled by the temporary effects of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike on crude production, imports, and product deliveries in September 2008,” the American Petroleum Institute reported in its Monthly Statistical Report. Domestic petroleum deliveries, a measure of demand, totaled 18.6 million bpd, up 4.1 percent from a year ago.
Gasoline deliveries in September strengthened, marking the fourth month in a row for which deliveries of that product regained ground over year-ago trends. The data shows deliveries increased 6.6 percent from September 2008, though API said a major part of that climb reflected unusual year ago conditions more than growth in 2009.
“The most basic explanation for increasing gasoline deliveries is the lack of hurricanes this September, compared with the major impact of Gustav and Ike last year on refinery production and product distribution,” said API Statistics Manager Ron Planting. “But even if last September’s deliveries had not been affected by those temporary factors, we estimate that this September’s deliveries still would have been up 2 percent or more from last year, apparently an indicator of the somewhat improved health of the economy.”
Still, distillate deliveries failed to rebound, showing a September decline of 1.5 percent from a year ago. Though the decline marked the smallest distillate delivery drop this year, it was likely colored by the atypical, hurricane-related demand patterns for September 2008. When compared with September 2007, deliveries tumbled more than 11 percent. API reported jet fuel deliveries for the month reviewed edged up 1.4 percent from the corresponding 2008 period.
September’s domestic crude oil production rose to its highest level since May at 5.29 million bpd. Lower 48 output held relatively steady compared with recent months, at 4.61 million bpd, while Alaskan production rebounded from summer lows below 600,000 bpd to 681,000 bpd in September. Last September, U.S. crude oil production had dipped to less than 4 million bpd because of precautionary shut-ins of Gulf of Mexico platforms due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Those hurricanes shut in a cumulative 60 million bbl or more of Gulf Coast offshore crude oil production.
At 11.59 million bpd, September’s imports of crude oil and products were nearly the same as a year ago but for very different reasons. Last year’s trend of stronger imports had been temporarily curtailed in September, by perhaps 1.5 million bpd, because of hurricane disruptions to shipping. This September’s ongoing lower imports reflected a sharply lower trend due to the influence of the weak economy on domestic demand levels.
For the year to date, total imports have averaged 6.6 percent below year-ago levels. Crude oil imports for the first nine months declined 4.7 percent, while product imports slid nearly 13 percent.
At refineries, September’s input to distillation units rose from August’s level to 14.88 million bpd with output of all major products also increasing. Compared with a year ago, when refinery utilization rates on a weekly basis had dipped as low as 65.6 percent because of the hurricanes, inputs were up more than 13 percent for the month. Utilization this September, at 84.2 percent, was among the highest for the past ten months and compares favorably with utilization rates across all manufacturing industries averaging under 67 percent, according to Federal Reserve Board data.
According to API data, crude oil inventories in September remained nearly flat compared with a year ago, but inventories of all major products increased. Gasoline inventories rose nearly 6 million bbl to 213 million bbl—which was more than 12 percent higher than a year ago when a counter-seasonal draw on existing gasoline inventories helped to compensate for reduced production from refineries shut down by the hurricanes. Distillate inventories in September rose nearly 5 million bbl to 168 million bbl—their highest level for any month in nearly 27 years. Jet fuel inventories rose slightly to 47 million bbl, nearly 24 percent higher than a year ago.
