October 10, 2016 – Real Money
Cramer: Oil Inventory Numbers Are About to Take a Huge Hit
By: Jim Cramer
There are big changes afoot for the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Wednesday crude oil inventory number, and if they are not explained properly as a no-longer-apples-to-apples comparison, the rally in crude above $50 will indeed be justified as a panic on the part of those who need oil -- actually consumers -- vs. just the usual trading shenanigans.
Specifically, the always-prescient Rusty Braziel, my authority on all things energy from his perch at RBN Energy, points out that, "Starting with the Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) published on Oct. 13, 2016, the U.S. total commercial crude oil inventory weekly data series will no longer include lease stocks." This change will reflect an understanding by the keepers of these numbers "that lease stocks are not yet available for commercial use and that in many cases operators do not count them as production until they are transferred off the lease via pipeline, rail or trucks to tank farms for storage."
How big an impact will this be? OK, Braziel says, "Not accounting for other stock changes reported by operators of pipelines and tank farms, commercial crude oil inventories for the week ending Oct. 7 (published on Oct. 13) will be about 31 million barrels lower because the lease stocks will no longer be included in the total."
Read the full story here: http://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/10/10/2016/cramer-oil-inventory-numbers-are-about-take-huge-hit
