EIA: Crude piles up, gasoline drains as exports hit record highs in April

US commercial crude inventories rose 3.0 million barrels in the week ending July 3, bringing total stocks to 411.4 million barrels even as refiners trimmed throughput and crude imports rebounded sharply. The build came alongside a 173,000 bpd drop in refinery inputs to 17.0 million bpd, with utilisation easing to 95.8% of operable capacity, and crude stocks remain about 6% below the five-year seasonal average, underscoring that the headline build has not meaningfully closed the structural deficit.

On the trade balance, crude imports jumped 351,000 bpd to 5.6 million bpd last week, though the four-week average of 5.4 million bpd remains 11.4% below the same period last year. Domestic production held broadly steady, edging up 50,000 bpd to near 13.9 million bpd.

The more consequential shift is on the export side, where EIA data for April show total petroleum exports hit a record 13.6 million bpd, up 15% from March's previous high, as disruptions to crude and product flows through the Strait of Hormuz redirected global demand toward US barrels. Crude exports led that surge at 5.6 million bpd, 21% above the prior December 2023 record, while propane exports broke above 2.0 million bpd for the first time and distillate exports climbed to 1.6 million bpd, the strongest since July 2017.

Products moved in the opposite direction, with total motor gasoline stocks dropping 1.9 million barrels to 212.1 million barrels as export demand and steady summer driving pull kept the draw intact.

The combination of record export flows tied to the Hormuz disruption and slowing refinery throughput points to a market increasingly balanced by trade rather than domestic demand, with distillates the most exposed to further tightening if export pull persists into the peak summer run season.

Written by: Farid Muzaffar