This Week in Petroleum Summary February 7th, 2024 per EIA.GOV

This week's full report. 

Pump Prices are drifing in a narrow range, with not much upward pressure... yet! 

Overall...

Crude inventories rose +5.5M barrels; distillates down -3.2M barrels; gasoline down +3.2M barrels.

For those interested, the exports of Crude, Petroleum Products, Including Gasoline has far outweighed the imports, by this much, since March, 2022.

I added distillates (diesel) to the chart. I had read a rather hysterical article about the impending distillate shortage, as distillates were down 5% from 5 year average... yada, yada. 

So yes, distillates are down -5.1% from historical 5 year average, but that five years includes that covid period, where consumption cratered and inventories skyrocketed. 

Discounting that period, the reading is -1.7%. Considering the refiners make more money from diesel than gasoline... I would expect refining operating capacity percent to rise. Given current crude mixes, this should keep gasoline prices in check, even if diesel rises slightly. 

We'll just have to wait and see.