Gross inputs to U.S. petroleum refineries recently reached a record high of 17.7 million barrels per day. Oil imports, inventories and exports are also at higher levels than the five-year average.
Weekly U.S. refinery runs have exceeded 17 million b/d only 24 times since the Energy Information Administration began publishing the data 27 years ago. All of those instances have occurred since July 2015.
U.S. refinery capacity, which is the amount of oil that can be processed in 24 hours under normal operating conditions, has increased by 659,000 barrels per calendar day since August 2015. U.S. refineries have three primary outlets for their products – inventory, domestic sales and export. Recently, all three have exceeded five-year averages.
Year-over-year, total product inventories are nearly 83 million barrels higher than the five-year average, although they are about three million barrels lower than one year ago. Similarly, product supplied is currently greater than the five-year average by nearly 600,000 b/d, but 400,000 b/d lower than the same time last year. Petroleum product exports are higher on all fronts, with the EIA reporting export levels that are currently 831,000 b/d higher than one year ago.