CL- John Kemp at Reuters has his chart pack updated. The takeaways are:
1. US refineries have significantly increased production to what is by far the highest in history
2. US gasoline supplies have finally gotten back down to last years levels which is still way above the five year average
3. Distillate stocks are below last year but well above the five year average.
4. Crude oil inventories are in the range of last year.
So the OPEC production cuts have succeeded in keeping inventories from making even higher highs due mainly to ever increasing US product exports. What happens next is the normal end of peak demand and refining starts to nose dive. Shale production is not going to decline, either is OPEC at this point, so what happens when the US no longer is setting record levels for refinery throughput? Are the Algo's and Hedge Funds nuanced enough to play the rate of inventory increases or will they continue to act digitally to the weekly inventory estimates. As they say in the movies, buckle up it could get rough.
