The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has announced it will now provide weekly estimates of US crude oil storage capacity utilisation. It said this information will be provided for an indeterminate period of time “to help stakeholders better assess current market conditions”. 

EIA will report the most recent crude oil storage capacity utilisation estimates for the United States in total and for each of the five Petroleum Administration Defense District (PADD) regions separately. The first of these was the Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) release on Wednesday, April 8, 2020, which contained data for week ending April 3, 2020. 

Utilisation estimates are based on the ratio of stock levels to working storage capacity, which EIA defines as the difference in volume between the maximum safe fill capacity and the quantity below which pump suction is ineffective (bottoms). 

EIA said in the announcement it will use weekly reported crude oil stocks (excluding pipeline fill inventory) to the most recently available monthly refinery and tank farm storage capacity (data as of September 30, 2019). 

Working storage capacity accounts for normal operational factors that limit storage capacity. Working storage capacity is always less than shell storage capacity, which EIA defines as the design capacity of a petroleum storage tank or cavern.

Up until now, monthly working storage capacity has been reported semi-annually on Form EIA-810, Monthly Refinery Report, and Form EIA-813, Monthly Crude Oil Report, and published in EIA’s Working and Net Available Shell Storage Capacity Report. This  report will be updated May 29, 2020, with data as of March 31, 2020. 

For more information visit www.eia.gov

16th April 2020