By Brian L. Milne
DTN Refined Fuels Editor
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (DTN) -- The Energy Information Administration Thursday reported U.S. inventories of propane/propylene rose a larger-than-expected 2.0 million barrels (bbl) in the week-ended Aug. 31 to 73.4 million bbl, which was down about 6.5 million bbl or 8.1% versus the same time in 2017 and 7.8 bbl or 9.6% below the five-year average of 81.2 million bbl.
A DTN survey showed market participants expected domestic propane/propylene stocks would increase 1.65 million bbl in the week.
EIA data showed stocks of propane rose about 2.4 million bbl during the week while propylene stocks dropped about 400,000 bbl to 2.8 million bbl.
Midwest PADD 2 propane/propylene stocks increased about 1.2 million bbl in the week-ended Aug. 31 to 25.7 million bbl, which was up 1.2 million bbl or 5.3% above the year-ago level.
Gulf Coast PADD 3 propane/propylene were up 500,000 bbl at approximately 37.1 million bbl, which was 8.5 million bbl or 18.6% below the year-ago level and down 22.0 million bbl or 37.2% from two years prior.
EIA data shows U.S. propane/propylene exports at 721,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the week ended Aug. 31, down from 976,000 bpd in the week prior. Four-week average exports were at 969,000 bpd compared with 543,000 bpd in the same period last year.
East Coast PADD 1 propane/propylene inventories increased about 300,000 bbl in the week to 7.2 million bbl, which was up about 900,000 bbl or 15.9% from the same time last year and flat versus two years ago.
In PADDs IV and V, which include the Rocky Mountain and West Coast regions, propane/propylene supplies dropped about 100,000 bbl in the week to 3.4 million bbl, about 200,000 bbl below the year-ago level.
U.S. propane/propylene imports were at 102,000 bpd, down from 134,000 bpd in the week prior. Four-week average imports were at 111,000 bpd versus 120,000 bpd in the same period last year.
Agency data showed implied demand for propane/propylene in the week-ended Aug. 31 at 1.068 million bpd bpd, which compared with 784,000 bpd in the week prior and 520,000 bpd reported for the same week last year.
EIA reported refiner and blender net production of propane/propylene in the week at 1.973 million bpd, down 9,000 bpd from the week prior but up 476,000 bbl above the year-ago level.
Brian L. Milne can be reached at brian.milne@dtn.com
(BAS)
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