Trade data belongs in the mix of energy market indicators
Consumers may be riveted by the steady up-tick in prices at the gas pump, but the analysts who follow the energy market can’t afford that kind of tunnel vision.
Multiple factors are driving the cost of oil. The short list: the geopolitics homing in on the the Gulf of Hormuz, the growing global demand for oil led by China, market-changing plays by speculators, and – according to this Department of Energy report just in – the retirement of several US East Coast refineries.
Most analysts draw on multiple streams of energy market and related data to feed their own statistical models for a view of what’s likely to happen next.
That’s why everyone follows the Weekly Petroleum Status Report on oil inventories issued each Wednesday by the DOE’s Energy Information Agency (EIA), but few rely on WPSR alone. Based on a survey of storage facilities, the WPSR’s data collection shortcomings were documented by a SAIC study in 2010.
There are a few alternate sources of reliable data on this strategic commodity. The American Petroleum Institute is one.
Datamyne is another. Our US import trade data can provide analysts with a unique view of supplies of crude oil, gasoline and such distillates as jet fuel and fuel oil, based on Customs & Border Protection records of delivered shipments.
As with all Datamyne US import data, the data on oil shipments is very fresh data, with only a three-day delay, on average, in release from the time the product arrives in port. To learn more about using trade data to monitor oil or any other commodity, contact us.
