US refiners to curb national oil glut

US petrol production is expected to hit record highs in 2015, as refiners stem overflowing storage resulting from the biggest national crude glut in more than 80 years.

Boasting the best margins in two years, the domestic refining sector has added more than 100,000 barrels per day of capacity since the summer of 2014, when it processed the most oil on record. Growing crude production has expanded inventories so far in 2015 by 86 million barrels to 471 million barrels, the highest since 1930.

“A lot of the excess crude we’ve been sitting on is going to get chewed up quickly. We’re going to move from a stock build to a stock draw,” Sam Davis, an analyst for energy consulting company Wood Mackenzie was reported as saying April 2.

Oil markets have been pressured, as Goldman Sachs said prices must remain low for months to achieve a slowdown in US output growth.

“Prices need to remain low in coming months to achieve a sufficient and sustainable slowdown in US production growth,” the banking firm was reported as saying, adding that the national production outlook for 2016 suggests its forecast for oil at $65 per barrel that year is too high.