U.S. crude imports touch two-year high despite lukewarm demand

By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil imports last month rose to a nearly two-year high as refiners scooped up heavy crudes from Canada and Latin America to process into fuels for summer driving season.

Imports of crude oil rose to 3.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, the highest since July 2022, data from ship tracking service Kpler showed. Imports so far this month have remained strong, at around 2.9 million bpd to date.

Fuel demand has remained tepid with product supplied for gasoline at 9.1 million bpd in the week to June 14, slightly below the 10-year seasonal average, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed.

U.S. product supplied of distillate fuel oil also was around 3.7 million bpd, about 3% below the seasonal average, according to EIA data.

Crude oil imports from Canada climbed in May to 319,000 bpd, its most in 2-1/2 years, as the newly expanded Trans Mountain pipeline boosted flows to the U.S. West Coast. The imports were 39% higher than the same month a year ago.

Supplies from Mexico, Guyana and Colombia also climbed. Guyana crude hit a record 99,000 bpd and Colombia rose to a near two-year high. Imports from Mexican state oil company Pemex rebounded, reversing brief export cuts.

"U.S. refiners bought excess crude oil to mitigate the loss of Mexican crude," said Rohit Rathod, market analyst at energy researcher Vortexa.

Pemex in April had pared exports, sending U.S. refiners to get order heavier crude from Colombia and Canada, but weaker-than-expected demand by Pemex's domestic refineries canceled planned May cuts. Imports from Mexico this month have run 624,000 bpd, the highest this year.

Top May refining importers were Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy and Phillips 66, according to Kpler data.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio)