Oil in Global Economy Series: Reports show U.S. oil industry yet to fully recover from Harvey

Data from the EIA’s crude oil inventory report yesterday shows that U.S. oil industry in the Gulf Coast is yet to fully recover from the devastating effect of Hurricane Harvey that battered Texas and Louisiana and led to refinery outage to the tune of 4.2 million barrels per day.

• The first chart from Ole S Hanson, head of the commodity strategy at Saxo bank shows the total U.S refinery demand, which is still down around 2.5 million barrels per day from its pre-Harvey peak.
• The second chart from Hanson shows the total U.S. crude import, which is still down more than 1.2 million barrels per day from its pre-Harvey peak.
• The third chart from ClipperData that tracks global crude oil and refined products movement clearly shows that level of crude oil imports are far lower than pre-Harvey levels.

The slow recovery is sure to impact U.S. distillate stocks, which has dropped below 5-year average and impact the price of gasoline in the United States, which is currently at $1.64 per gallon.