US Gulf Coast propane prices strengthened Thursday morning as inventories dipped for the second time this season and as crude oil futures gained nearly 75 cents/b.
November non-LST propane had climbed 3.125 cents to trade at 75.25 cents/gal, or 53% of crude futures, as of 10:20 am CST.
The spike came as total US propane stocks dipped 768,000 barrels to 83.8 million barrels in the week ended November 9, Energy Information Administration data showed.
Inventories were 9 million barrels above year-ago levels and 1% below the five-year average.
The largest draw was on the Gulf Coast, where stocks fell 766,000 barrels to 45.3 million barrels, followed by the Midwest where inventories shed 513,000 barrels to 26.8 million barrels.
East Coast stocks rose 480,000 barrels to 7.7 million barrels.
US propane production fell 18,000 b/d to 1.94 million b/d, for a second consecutive week below 2 million b/d.
The Sand Hills pipeline outage since Saturday could impact production levels in next week's report. Sand Hills carries y-grade from the Permian and Eagle Ford basins to Mont Belvieu, Texas.
Exports fell 316,000 b/d to 668,000 b/d while product supplied, or implied demand, rose 640,000 b/d to 1.5 million b/d.
S&P Global Platts Analytics data compiled from cFlow, Platts trade flow software, showed 23 LPG carriers, including 11 VLGCs, loading from US ports last week.
FOB USGC propane cargoes dipped 1.25 cents Wednesday to a 5.25-cent premium over cavern product, while freight rates remained unchanged at $38/mt to Europe and $78/mt to Japan.
