Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Higher OPEC Crude Imports Contribute To Massive U.S. Oil Stock Build In January
Feb. 1, 2017 1:56 PM ET
Robert Boslego
Seeking Alpha

Notwithstanding the commencement of the historic "Algiers Accord" and "Vienna Agreement," U.S. crude oil imports have risen. They have contributed to a total build in U.S. crude and petroleum product stocks of 26 million barrels since the end of 2016, when the OPEC cutback went into effect. Total stocks now stand at 1.347 billion barrels, 41.2 million higher than a year ago, and 168 million barrels above its five-year average. The data is from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) for the weeks ending January 27, 2017.

OPEC has targeted draining total OECD stocks back to their five-year average as its goal. But the 4-week trend in crude imports from OPEC members has increased by 291,000 b/d since the end of December to average 3.254 million barrels per day (mmbd). The gain was led by an increase of 260,000 b/d from Saudi Arabia, lifting imports to 1.239 mmbd.

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