Weekly Energy Tweet And News -- April 27, 2016; Statoil Profits Surprise

Get ready for higher summer prices for gasoline: US refinery throughput edged down a bit; the second decline in three weeks; refinery throughput this past week is now below that of what was seen at this time in 2015.

Even US distillate stocks are dropping; now below that of 2015 this time last year. Get ready for a jump in prices.

US distillate consumption has surged; now back over the 10-year average. 

US gasoline stocks now at 2015 levels (which was was a 10-year record) but going in the "right direction" for the oil and gas industry.

US gasoline stocks still "off the chart" but they have really, really dome down over the past three months.

Crude oil (price) hits recent high after release of crude oil data.

"There's a possibility we could see newer highs from here, notwithstanding the EIA data, as the market is really fired up on the idea of tightening supplies," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

US crude and products stocks continue an upward trend; up 5.3 million bbl but YoY surplus continued to narrow (but the gap is still incredible).

US crude stocks rose 2 million bbls, to 540.6 million bbls; this should be the seasonal peak; current US crude oil stocks are "still off the chart." Last year at this time, US crude stocks around 490 million bbls; the ten-year low -- around 310 million bbls.

US crude oil imports last week, 7.6 million bopd vs 8.2 bopd previous week.

Rigzone is reporting that Europe's energy giants (Statoil and Total) reported profits in 1Q16:

Norway’s Statoil ASA and France-based Total S.A. both posted profits in the first quarter of this year.

Statoil’s adjusted earnings after tax amounted to $122 million in 1Q 2016, beating an average forecast which predicted a $125 million loss for the period. The Norwegian energy firm posted a loss of $1.5 billion in the previous quarter and a profit of $902 million in the first quarter of 2015.

Statoil delivered equity production of 2.05 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 1Q 2016, which was roughly two percent higher compared to the first quarter last year. Higher production than expected in Norway helped Statoil’s profit beat expectations.

The company’s equity production for 2016 is estimated to be lower than the 2015 level due to Statoil’s “value over volume-approach”.

Scheduled maintenance activity is estimated to reduce quarterly production by approximately 55,000 boepd in the second quarter of 2016. In total, maintenance is estimated to reduce equity production by around 60,000 boepd for the full fiscal year 2016, which is higher than the 2015 impact.

Will XOM surprise?