As Alice Would Say: It's Getting Curiouser And Curiouser -- April 17, 2020

From oilprice.com:

Crazy talk: there is talk over on social media that there is a very real possibility that retail service stations, as they start to go "broke," could shut down. I think one can think of any number of "outcomes." A word to the wise: keep your gasoline tanks full. I doubt it will actually happen, but stranger things have happened. When I first read that, I thought, "Okay, I could see." Then I thought: "Most pumps are now so automatic that, yes, I could see retail service stations shutting down, but the pumps still running." 

US petroleum supplies. Link here. I've watched this metric ever since I started the blog. Good, bad, or indifferent, it seems that 22 -26 days of supply is about "right." Enough of this, let's cut to the chase.

The graphic says it all.

Pretty much.

But in case you missed it: "we've" set a new record. The US now has a 35-day supply of petroleum.

But that's not all. Week-over-week, this latest numbers reveal the greatest percent increase ever. Actually, I don't know if it's the greatest percent increase ever but it was a huge increase. Week-over-week [(35.3 - 32.3)/32.2], the percent increase was 9.6%.

But there's even more. The greatest increase occurred when the supply -- measured in days -- was already setting records. "Month-over-month" [(35.3 - 28.7)/28.7] the increase was 23% and the "base" was at an already high 29 days.

Most recently:

Compare that during the last Saudi surge:

My hunch: we max out at 39.7 days.

By the way, the "industry" can forecast exactly the number of days of US petroleum supply. I assume those numbers are somewhat "secret." LOL. It involves a little calculus and only two variables.