And here's what they got:

Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending October 5, 2007

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) fell by 1.7 million barrels compared to the previous week. At 320.1 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper end of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels last week, and are well below the lower end of the average range. Both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components rose last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 0.6 million barrels, and are in the upper half of the average range for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased 1.4 million barrels last week. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 0.4 million barrels last week, but are in the middle of the average range for this time of year.

Isn't this the wrong time of year for distillates to be falling ?

Best Hopes for my 240D when I need to fill up 2 months from now,

Alan

A couple of things here:

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA restricted the sale of fuel to gasoline stations because of problems at the 135,000 barrel per day El Palito refinery that usually supplies the area, Diana Santiago, the head of the local gasoline chamber, said.

A union worker at El Palito said the refinery had not restarted after a power outage last week, which he said caused the supply problems. The lines stretched from gas stations into city streets disrupting traffic, residents said. Some stations ran out and many drivers lined up before dawn to obtain fuel in a country that is one of the largest US oil suppliers.

"People are really nervous. There are too many lines and many stations are running out and closing," said Elimir Hernandez, a truck driver who waited more than an hour for fuel.

Last week, PDVSA said it took key units at the El Palito refinery offline due to a power outage.

The company has still not restarted the units, a union official with knowledge of the operations said. A PDVSA refinery official declined to confirm if the units were online, although it has guaranteed supplies would be maintained. There have been repeated accidents, technical failures and power outages disrupting oil operations in the last few years."

OK. That's Venezuela. They don't know what they're doin?

But what about this?

Houston (Platts)--8Oct2007

Valero's 135,000 b/d Wilmington refinery restarted as planned over the
weekend after a shutdown last week, and by Monday was operating normally,
company spokesman Bill Day said.
The refinery was idled October 3 due to a power failure in the area that
had also knocked ConocoPhillips' 139,000 b/d Wilmington refinery out of
service.
Portions of that refinery remain offline and it was running at reduced
rates, a ConocoPhillips spokeswoman said earlier Monday (1627 GMT).
--Matthew Cook, matthew_cook@platts.com

http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/234499446.shtml

Prudhoe Bay production began the month at 300,932 bpd, dropped to 183,417 bpd on Sept. 13 and was only back up to 242,857 bpd at the end of the month, averaging 235,650 bpd in September, compared to 300,308 bpd in August, a drop of 21.5 percent. Prudhoe production includes western satellites Midnight Sun, Aurora, Polaris, Borealis and Orion.

Question? How come Venezuela gets badly hit on a 135 K
Refinery out for a week, but CA and the rest of the US
continue boosting gasoline after two 300 k Wilmington
Refineries have been out for a week (w/ ConocoPhillips'
still not completely up?)

And how are we making up for Prudhoe/Cantarell?

Arkansaw of Samuel L Clemens