Inventory switch

摘要

Oil stocks continued to rise in May, as refiners rebuilt depleted product inventories after the winter. Extreme weather left US heating fuel stocks exceptionally low this year and spring turnarounds postponed the recovery. Crude and product stocks in the US, Europe and Japan were 15mn bl lower at the end of May than a year earlier. But oil firms are rebuilding stocks, and most of the increase last month was again in the US, where sustained high refinery runs boosted product stocks. Stocks also recovered in Europe and Japan. Product stocks remain very low compared with recent years, but crude stocks are at comfortable levels (see graph, left). The ratio of crude to products stocks is rising, indicating that refiners are able to hold more of their inventory in the form of crude.