18.09.15. Last week, US Gulf Coast oil storage reached a record high of 69.603 million barrels, according to Genscape, which began monitoring the region in July 2014. While inventories at Corpus Christi, and Houston, both in Texas, have increased in past weeks, the regional record high was mostly due to a jump in storage at Beaumont-Nederland, Texas, which hit a high of 25.838 million barrels last week. The previous regional storage high was 69.602 million barrels during the week ending 15 May 2015.
Much of the increase the past week, says Genscape, was due to higher Gulf Coast pipeline flows. During the week ending 11 September, a total of 75 percent of Genscape-monitored incoming pipeline capacity into the Gulf Coast was used, after as much as 78 percent was used the previous week. Pipeline utilisation has risen to over 60 percent since 31 July after hovering in the 50-60 percent range earlier in July.
Last week, Gulf Coast storage capacity utilisation was 57 percent, 3 percent less than on 15 May. The Gulf Coast currently has 122 million barrels of operational capacity, 5.6 million barrels more than what was available on 15 May.
Beaumont-Nederland storage utilisation last week was 62 percent, the highest capacity of monitored Gulf Coast locations. Inventories there have built six out of the past seven weeks. At 19.4 million barrels, terminal stock levels at Beaumont-Nederland are 662,000 bbls above the highest recorded level on 24 April.
