US propane and propylene stocks declined 78,000 barrels to 76.04 million barrels in the reporting week that ended September 5, Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday. Before the most recent week, US stocks rose every week since the reporting week that ended March 28.
The drop in the inventory implies that the injection season, which started in April, is at an end, sources said.
Only inventories in the Midwest increased, rising 638,000 barrels to a total of 26.23 million barrels.
In the previous five years, Midwest stocks declined an average of 489,000 barrels in the comparable week. Stocks in that region now stand 4.04 million barrels higher than in the year-ago week.
In the most recent week, the US Gulf Coast saw the largest regional decrease in inventories, with a 601,000-barrel drop to 40.96 million barrels.
Atlantic Coast stocks also declined, sliding 162,000 barrels to 5.73 million barrels, according to the EIA data.
US stocks of propylene for nonfuel use decreased 103,000 barrels week on week to 3.54 million barrels.
Imports in the reporting week that ended September 5 climbed 60,000 b/d to 114,000 b/d. The US imported 11,000 b/d more than in the same week last year, the data show.
Gulf Coast propane at the Enterprise terminal in the Mont Belvieu, Texas, hub was trading at $1.06875/gal on IntercontinentalExchange Wednesday morning, some 62.5 points higher than at 3:15 pm EDT (1915 GMT) Tuesday.
Conway propane was trading at $1.065/gal on IntercontinentalExchange, which was 12.5 points higher than at 3:15 pm EDT Tuesday.
– Platts.com
