Yahoo Finance API Data: Will Crude Oil Prices’ Collateral Damage Continue?
Crude Oil Falls 40% since May: Is It More than the Fundamentals?
API estimates
The API (American Petroleum Institute) is scheduled to release its weekly crude oil inventory report on August 25, 2015. Last week, US crude oil inventories fell by 2.3 MMbbls (million barrels) for the week ending August 14, 2015. The data also showed that the gasoline stockpile fell by 1.5 MMbbls over the same period. In contrast, distillate stocks rose by 0.776 MMbbls for the week ending August 14, 2015.
EIA inventory surveys
The API data is followed by the EIA’s (U.S. Energy Information Administration) weekly petroleum status report. The EIA is scheduled to release its weekly inventory report on August 26, 2015. Last week, the EIA report showed that the crude oil inventory rose by 2.6 MMbbls to 456.2 MMbbls for the week ending August 14, 2015.
The market surveys from Bloomberg estimate that the crude oil inventory could fall by 2 MMbbls for the week ending August 21, 2015.
Likewise, distillates stock is estimated to rise by 1.02 MMbbls over the same period. In contrast, the gasoline stockpile is estimated to fall by 1 MMbbls for the week ending August 21, 2015.
Current crude oil inventories are 25.80% more than the level of 362.5 MMbbls in 2014. They’re also near an 80-year high during this period of the year. The record inventory and consensus of the rising crude oil inventory will continue to put pressure on crude oil prices.
The rising crude oil stocks imply that supplies are rising or demand is falling. As a result, this could negatively affect crude oil prices.
Oil and gas producers like Chevron (CVX), ExxonMobil (XOM), and Newfield Exploration (NFX) have lost more than 14% in the last month due to lower crude oil prices. These companies account for 29.35% of the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE). Oil and gas ETFs like XLE and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) have also lost more than 13% in August 2015 due to lower crude oil prices.
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