EIA Petroleum Status Report - April 15

[dan_s]

Since it takes ~3 months for an oil tanker to travel from the Persian Gulf to the U.S., the storage volumes reported below have not been impacted by the War in Iran. The U.S. no longer imports much oil from the Persian Gulf. It is expected that the U.S. will be exporting more light oil to Europe and Asia where spot market oil prices are much higher than the WTI strip prices.
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Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the week ending April 10, 2026

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.0 million barrels per day during the week ending April 10, 2026, which was 208 thousand barrels per day less than the previous week’s average.
Refineries operated at 89.6% of their operable capacity last week.
Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.8 million barrels per day.
Distillate fuel production decreased, averaging 4.9 million barrels per day. < U.S. refineries need more heavy oil ("black oil") to make diesel, heating oil and jet fuel. This fact is bullish for the Canadian upstream companies. Yesterday, Rubellite told me that if WTI averages $85US/bbl their realized heavy oil prices should increase to over $83Cdn/bbl net of differentials and cash settlements on their hedges, compared to $65.58Cdn/bbl. RBY.TO, which trades in the U.S. as RUBLF, is one of my Top Picks in our Small-Cap Growth Portfolio .

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 5.3 million barrels per day last week, decreased by 1.0 million barrels per day from the previous week.
Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.1 million barrels per day, 1.3% less than the same four-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 316 thousand barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 118 thousand barrels per day. < California will be the state that is impacted the most by the war in Iran because ~25% of the oil going to California refineries is imported from the Middle East. BTW California has more than enough recoverable oil reserves to meet their demand, but the current leadership will not allow it to be harvested.

Inventories:
> U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 0.9 million barrels from the previous week. At 463.8 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 1% above the five-year average for this time of year. < Crude oil inventories of ~400 million are the minimum to necessary to keep the supply chain for refined products running smoothly.
> Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 6.3 million barrels from last week and are 1% above the five-year average for this time of year. Both finished gasoline and blending component inventories decreased last week.
> Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 3.1 million barrels last week and are about 6% below the five-year average for this time of year. < The ultra light oil from the shale plays is good for making gasoline, so the U.S. and Canada should not have to ration gasoline. Distillates require "black oil".
> Propane/propylene inventories increased by 0.3 million barrels from last week and are 68% above the five-year average for this time of year. < Great news for those of us that like to BBQ.
>> Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 9.0 million barrels last week.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.6 million barrels per day, up by 5.6% from the same period last year.
Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.8 million barrels per day, up by 3.6% from the same period last year.
Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.9 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, up by 2.2% from the same period last year.
Jet fuel product supplied was down 0.2% compared with the same four-week period last year.
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The WTI MAY26 futures contact started moving higher within minutes after the report above was released.