US crude stocks post fifth straight weekly build amid downbeat refinery demand

US commercial crude stocks saw a fifth consecutive weekly build in the week to Nov. 17, US Energy Information Administration data showed Nov. 22, as refiners remained slow to ramp consumption despite declining maintenance.

Crude stocks climbed 8.7 million barrels to 448.1 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 17, the EIA data. The build pushed inventories to 99.3% of the five-year average for this time of year, marking the narrowest deficit since early August.

Stockpiles at the NYMEX delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma, climbed 860,000 barrels to 25.87 million barrels, but remained still tight at 32.9% below normal for this time of year.

Refinery net crude inputs averaged 15.5 million b/d over the period, EIA data shows, up 110,000 b/d on the week and the strongest since the week ended Sept. 29. Refinery crude demand, which bottomed in mid-October as seasonal maintenance peaked, has been slow to recover despite the steady return of offline capacity.

Seasonal maintenance is expected to take an average of around 1.6 million b/d of capacity offline in November, S&P Global Commodity Insights data shows, down from 2.24 million b/d in October.

But to date in November net crude inputs have averaged just 120,000 b/d higher than last month, while November utilization is so far just 0.4 percentage point stronger than October levels.

Net inputs have steadily lost ground to the five-year average in recent weeks and stood 3% below normal in the week to Nov. 17, the EIA data shows.

Heavier, sour crude supply has been tight since OPEC+ imposed voluntary production cuts to support crude prices. This lower supply has impacted heavy crude avails, particularly affecting regions like the US Gulf Coast where refineries have been configured to run heavy crudes.

Despite having ample access to the light, sweet crude flowing out the Permian Basin, there are limits to how much light, sweet the sophisticated US refiners along the US Gulf Coast can process and need the heavier crude to make their refineries economic.

Below trend runs and a lighter crude slate has kept up pressure on distillate stocks. Total distillate inventories declined 1 million barrels to 105.6 million barrels in the week to Nov. 17, putting them 13.7% below normal for this time of year and at the lowest outright level since May 2022.

Gasoline stocks, in contrast, climbed 800,000 barrels to 216.4 million barrels and remained healthy at just 1.9% below average.