Oil Stocks At Cushing Dropped For Third Consecutive Week; Lowest Level In 2013; Overall Imports Ticked Up Slightly

Platts is reporting:

Commercial crude oil stocks in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) crude oil contract, dropped for the third consecutive week, hitting their lowest level yet in 2013, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed Wednesday.

Stocks at Cushing fell 669,000 barrels to 48.596 million barrels during the reporting week ended June 14, the EIA's data showed, a level not seen since the week ended December 14, 2012.

The drop contrasted with a build in U.S. commercial crude oil stocks, which ticked up 313,000 barrels to 394.121 million barrels, amid a 586,000 barrels per day (b/d) increase in imports.

Data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) late Tuesday showed a 4.286 million-barrel drop in crude oil stocks, coupled with a decline in imports.

The decrease at Cushing is a welcome sign for Bakken oil. I wonder if the increase in imports might have something to do with a) heavy oil needed by US refineries; and, b) Saudi oil for their large joint venture refinery along the coast.