Note: U.S. crude oil inventories exclude Strategic Petroleum Reserves. December 2014 to February 2015 are estimates.
With lower U.S. refinery runs and increases in domestic crude oil production, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories at the end of February provided the most days of supply since the mid-1980s. were sufficient to supply 29 days of U.S. refinery demand, based on expected refinery runs in March.
The number of days of supply is calculated by dividing the commercial crude oil inventory level at the end of the month by the forecast crude oil refinery runs in the following month. This calculation excludes government-held inventories such as the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The days-of-supply calculation is an indicator of how loose or tight oil markets are by showing the number of days current commercial inventories will last given the future consumption rate at refineries. Refinery runs (or throughput) are the amount of crude oil that refineries process and are used as a proxy to measure the consumption rate.
As explained in , commercial crude oil inventories across all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries are also high, but to a lesser extent than U.S. inventories considered alone. OECD crude oil inventories in January were sufficient to supply almost 28 days of OECD crude oil demand. However, unlike in the United States, OECD inventories have exceeded 28 days of supply in several months over the previous two years.
Note: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) crude oil stocks exclude government-held stocks. December 2014 and January 2015 are estimates.
The recent increase in refinery maintenance in the United States and increased refinery use in Europe.
Principal contributors: Hannah Breul, James Preciado, Asmeret Asghedom
