Released on April 21, 2004
(Next Release on April 28, 2004)

Up, But From a Lower Number
EIA�s Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) released earlier today, which includes data for the week ending April 16, showed total motor gasoline inventories (including gasoline blending components) had increased by 1.6 million barrels from the previous week. Yet, the inventory level, as of April 16, is 199.1 million barrels, down 2.0 million barrels from the inventory level published last week for April 9, and down 1.0 million barrels from the published April 2 levels. So, did total gasoline inventories go up or down last week?

As almost all of you reading this know, release of EIA�s weekly petroleum data was delayed last week due to new data collection forms and systems for the surveys underlying the WPSR. The new forms and systems are designed to collect data on U.S. petroleum supply with a much greater degree of product and geographical detail. However, because many of these data have never before been collected by EIA or reported by the petroleum industry, EIA encountered an unexpectedly large number of reporting and processing problems. Nevertheless, some errors in data for the production and stocks of finished motor gasoline remained, which also impacted the calculation of product supplied for motor gasoline. Thus, in the interest of providing weekly data as accurately as practical, EIA revised today the data initially published for the week ending April 9. This resulted in a total gasoline inventory level for the week ending April 9 that was 3.6 million barrels lower than that reported last week. These revised data reflect additional validated survey responses for the week of April 9, 2004 that were not available at the time of publication. These submissions better reflect market conditions than the imputations EIA used in the WPSR published on April 14; therefore, we have chosen to include that survey data in this revision. The bottom line is that total gasoline inventories increased last week (from April 9 to April 16), but, because of revisions to the April 9 data, total gasoline stocks as of April 16 stood at lower levels than those seen on April 2, 2004.

With the release of weekly petroleum data on time earlier today, it appears that any system and reporting problems uncovered last week have been addressed. EIA, however, has decided to withhold release of most of the new data items until June 2 (which will include data for the week ending May 28), in order to make sure that these additional data items are accurate and reliable. As noted, these new data have never been collected or reported until now, and therefore, it seems prudent to collect several weeks� worth of data to insure that when they are published, they will meet the scrutiny of those anxious to see, for example, how much RBOB (reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygenate blending) with alcohol inventory actually exists along the East Coast (PADD I). While EIA truly appreciates the importance of timely information (no other organization in the world produces as much petroleum data on a weekly basis), providing accurate data is still EIA�s priority. This is the simple reason EIA revised data for the week ending April 9 and will wait until June 2 to publish some of the new data now being collected.

Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices Trend Higher
The U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline increased by another 2.7 cents per gallon as of April 19 to reach 181.3 cents per gallon, 23.9 cents higher than at this time last year. Retail regular gasoline prices were up throughout the country last week, with the Rocky Mountains leading the way with a 5.4-cent increase to hit 185.8 cents per gallon. Prices in California and on the West Coast remained the highest in the nation, with California prices falling by 0.9 cent to 214.8 cents per gallon, staying over the $2 per gallon mark for the ninth week in a row. Prices on the West Coast rose by 0.9 cent, to hit 208.8 cents per gallon, which is 17.6 cents higher than this time last year.

Retail diesel fuel prices increased by 4.5 cents per gallon as of April 19 to a national average of 172.4 cents per gallon, which is 19.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. Retail diesel prices were up last week, with the Rocky Mountain region seeing the largest regional increase of 8.7 cents to hit 183.5 cents per gallon, while West Coast prices reached 211.2 cents per gallon, the second week in a row this price has been over $2 per gallon. California prices jumped 9.8 cents to 226.0 cents per gallon, marking a new high (unadjusted for inflation) and the third week California average diesel retail prices have topped $2 per gallon. These large increases are largely due to unplanned refinery outages over the past few weeks.

Propane Inventories Post Weekly Decline
U.S. inventories of propane continued to seesaw last week with a 0.4-million-barrel stockdraw that positioned inventories at an estimated 27.2 million barrels as of April 16, 2004. Last week's decline in inventories more than offset the prior week's inventory gain, putting propane inventories at a net loss of 0.1 million barrels for the first half of April. The average stockbuild for April over the most recent 5-year period has totaled more than 4.3 million barrels. Although it seems unlikely that April will finish the month with lower inventories than it began with, the possibility exists that the April 2004 stockbuild may be the lowest for this month since 1990, when inventories posted a 0.9-million-barrel loss. Regional inventories were nearly offsetting in the Midwest and Gulf Coast areas that reported a 1.0-million-barrel gain against a 0.9-million-barrel loss, respectively. East Coast inventories fell by 0.2 million barrels while combined inventories in the Rocky Mountain and West Coast areas moved lower by 0.3 million barrels during this same period. Propylene non-fuel use inventories moved up to 1.7 million barrels last week to account for a 6.2 percent share of total propane/propylene inventories.

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