Low Distillate Inventories Worry Analysts

Low distillate inventories, which have worried oil market analysts all summer, continue to be a concern as the winter season approaches.

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Bloomberg News reported Sept. 27 that an unexpected decline in U.S. inventories of fuel and crude oil had “increased concern that refiners won’t make enough heating oil to meet demand in the Northern Hemisphere winter.”

According to the American Petroleum Institute, distillate stocks fell 761,000 barrels, or 0.7%, and failed to meet market expectations of a 1.5-million-barrel rise.

However, API — the trade association that represents the nation’s oil and natural gas companies — said the inventory levels are not really a problem, and besides, they are not all that low.

For the full story, see the Oct. 2 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.