Demand is still low, but shut-ins and reduced imports are rapidly solving the problem. Instead of a June problem with storage limits, we may have bought ourselves another month.
Commercial oil inventories were rising by almost 20 million barrels per week in April. The most recent number from last week was less than five million barrels.
What is behind this turnaround, and will it get even better?
In this video, we quickly describe a few less-discussed data points in the EIA/DoE statistics methodology and the effect of imports.
We conclude that the collision with Cushing tank tops may be delayed, and the supply-demand balance may be resetting.
