U.S. Oil Imports Rise 24% as Production Falls 2.7%

U.S. imports of crude oil rose 24.1% in April from year-earlier levels, while total domestic production registered a 2.7% decline, the American Petroleum Institute reported Wednesday.

The trade association said that unlike previous months, the latest domestic production figure did not include a year-to-year increase in Alaskan output to partially offset a decline in the lower 48 states.

The report resulted in oil prices tumbling on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

June futures of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark grade, dropped 33 cents to $17.43 a barrel, after briefly falling as low as $17.36 a barrel during heavy trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In its Monthly Statistical Report, Washington-based API said U.S. imports of crude oil and petroleum products averaged 7.04 million 42-gallon barrels a day in April, up from 5.77 million barrels daily in April, 1987.

Domestic crude production averaged an estimated 8.17 million barrels a day in April, compared to 8.4 million barrels daily last April, while deliveries of domestic refined products slipped by 0.1%, it said.

The report said demand for petroleum products in April, as measured by domestic deliveries from primary storage, was not much different from that of last April.

But over the first four months of this year, it was a different story, with deliveries increasing to 17.44 million barrels daily--a “surprisingly high” 4.6% gain over the 1987 period, said Gene Johnson, an API spokesman.

“In previous years, 1% or 2% was considered high, so a 4.6% was very, very unexpected. It’s a significant increase,” he added.

The report said this April’s inventories rose by 22 million barrels because of higher imports and below-trend deliveries,” although April’s totals, on average, “have historically shown little direction during the month.”