U.S. crude oil stocks are set to rise in the next few months as the summer driving season ends and refineries enter the autumn turnaround season, according to many analysts and traders. Rising stocks will emphasize continuing oversupply in the oil market and are expected to put renewed downward pressure on crude oil prices before the end of the year. The problem with this argument is that there is no evidence that the end of the driving season and autumn refinery maintenance, events which happen every year, normally cause crude stocks to build. Crude stocks and refinery throughput both exhibit distinct seasonal patterns which are evident in the weekly petroleum status reports published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But the end of the driving season and the […]