The oil markets gyrated immediately upon release of the weekly petroleum report this morning at 10:30 AM.

In a tight supply and demand situation market is paying a close attention to the inventories situation. Over the last week, crude inventories increased by 0.3 million barrels and gasoline inventories declined by 5 million barrels. The crude inventory build up was expected to be $1.25 million barrels and gasoline inventory drawdown was expected to be less than 1.5 million.

The following is the unedited transcript of the Weekly Petroleum Report.

Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending August 12, 2005

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged over 15.6 million barrels per day during the week ending August 12, down 331,000 barrels per day from the previous week's average.

Refineries operated at 93.5 percent of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production declined slightly, averaging over 8.7 million barrels per day, while distillate fuel production also declined, averaging 4.2 million barrels per day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 10.3 million barrels per day last week, down 752,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged nearly 10.6 million barrels per day, an increase of 203,000 barrels per day from the comparable four weeks last year.

Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 973,000 barrels per day, while distillate fuel imports averaged 160,000 barrels per day.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 0.3 million barrels from the previous week. At 321.1 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are well above the upper end of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories dropped by 5.0 million barrels last week, putting them near the bottom end of the average range.

Distillate fuel inventories increased by 1.2 million barrels last week, and are above the upper end of the average range for this time of year. Most of the increase was in low-sulfur distillate fuel (diesel fuel), although high-sulfur distillate fuel (heating oil) inventories increased slightly. Total commercial petroleum inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels last week, and are just above the upper end of the average range for this time of year.

Total product supplied over the last four-week period has averaged nearly 21.2 million barrels per day, or 1.2 percent more than averaged over the same period last year. Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline demand has averaged nearly 9.5 million barrels per day, or 1.5 percent above the same period last year.

Distillate fuel demand has averaged over 4.0 million barrels per day over the
last four weeks, or 4.5 percent above the same period last year. Kerosene-type jet fuel demand is down 4.0 percent over the last four weeks compared to the same four-week period last year.