The Oil Drum

286 comments on DrumBeat: May 10, 2007

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westexas on May 10, 2007 - 11:55am

Is the chart updated through the first quarter of 2007?

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&stor...

IEA warns on oil inventories after big Q1 drop
Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:37 AM EDT
By Alex Lawler

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil stocks in consumer nations posted the biggest first-quarter drop in a decade and may fall further in coming months, the International Energy Agency said, keeping the heat under crude prices.

In its April monthly report on Thursday, the adviser to 26 industrialized countries also shaved its 2007 world oil demand forecast by 250,000 barrels per day to 85.8 million bpd though left growth in oil use unchanged.

Oil inventories are falling as supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries kick in. Lower stocks have helped boost U.S. crude prices to $62 a barrel from below $50 in mid-January.

"There has been a sharp stockdraw in the first quarter," Lawrence Eagles, head of the IEA's Oil Industry and Markets Division, told Reuters.

"It's clearly had a tightening impact and we think it's going to carry on having a tightening impact on the market."

Inventories in the OECD fell by 80.5 million barrels in February. Preliminary March data for the United States, Japan and Europe suggest OECD stocks may fall by about 1 million bpd in the first quarter, the agency said.

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Khebab on May 10, 2007 - 12:51pm

No, the last available date is December 2006. The data is here:

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/merquery/mer_data.asp?table=T11.03

From the IEA Oil Market Report (April 2007):

Total OECD industry stocks were 2,597.1 mb at the end of February, down 80.5 mb from January, and 49.6 mb lower than a year ago. Total crude inventories stood at 921.0 mb, 9.1 mb lower than in January, and down by 43.6 mb year-on-year. Total refined product stocks fell by 72.3 mb in February to 1,391.1 mb, or 12.8 mb lower year-on-year. Despite the draw-down, weaker demand kept end-February forward cover at 54 days, unchanged from the previous month and end-February 2006. Taking preliminary (and incomplete) March data into account, the first quarter remains on track for an OECD stock draw of around 1.0 mb/d. As noted in last month’s report, this would represent the steepest first-quarter decline in stocks since 1996.