How to Read EIA's 100.6% Rocky Mountain Refinery Utilization

The Rocky Mountain refinery-utilization rate in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 21 October petroleum report is 100.6%. That percentage compares gross inputs to atmospheric crude-oil distillation units with their operable calendar-day capacity. A reading above 100% can occur on that basis without establishing that equipment exceeded its maximum physical processing capability.

The figures cover the week ended 16 October 2026. This article was prepared on 22 October in Brisbane, after the completed 21 October NYSE core equity session. It measures no oil-price, share-price or option-price reaction.

Use gross inputs in the calculation

The dated Table 2 places the numerator, denominator and utilization rate together. The current-week columns show:

• Area: United States

  • Gross inputs, thousand barrels per day: 16,860
  • Operable capacity, thousand barrels per day: 18,044
  • Published utilization: 93.4%

• Area: Rocky Mountain, PADD 4

  • Gross inputs, thousand barrels per day: 657
  • Operable capacity, thousand barrels per day: 653
  • Published utilization: 100.6%

Dividing the displayed Rocky Mountain cells gives 657 / 653 × 100 = 100.6126%, which rounds to 100.6%. The national calculation gives 16,860 / 18,044 × 100 = 93.4383%, rounding to 93.4%. These are author calculations from rounded cells. EIA calculates its published percentages with unrounded numbers.

The same table reports Rocky Mountain crude-oil inputs of 647,000 barrels per day. Using that figure would give 647 / 653 × 100 = 99.1%, rounded to one decimal place. It would answer a different question. EIA's table definitions specify gross inputs of crude oil, unfinished oils and natural-gas plant liquids into the atmospheric distillation units. Substituting the crude-only row would erase the above-100% result by changing the numerator.

Calendar-day capacity allows for downtime

EIA's weekly input series labels its capacity denominator as calendar-day capacity. The agency distinguishes two ratings in its barrels-per-day definitions. Stream-day capacity describes maximum processing over 24 hours under optimal input and product conditions, without downtime. Calendar-day capacity reduces that capability for usual operating constraints, including maintenance, interruptions and the products being made.

A fictional facility illustrates the difference. Assume it can process 100 barrels in an uninterrupted day under optimal conditions, while its calendar-day capacity is 95 barrels after allowing for downtime. If it processes 100 barrels per day throughout a particular week, its utilization against the 95-barrel rating is 100 / 95 × 100 = 105.3%, rounded. It has reached the assumed stream-day capability, not exceeded it. These invented ratings explain the measurement; they do not reconstruct any Rocky Mountain refinery.

The regional 100.6% figure therefore needs its capacity basis attached. It does not measure the percentage of crude converted into gasoline, the percentage of refineries open, or a refining profit margin. Product output and profitability require other evidence.

The denominator has a different reporting clock

Table 2 uses the latest reported monthly operable capacity, rather than a fresh weekly measurement of capacity. Operable capacity includes operating capacity and qualifying idle capacity, according to EIA's table definitions. It is broader than the capacity running at that moment.

The dated explanatory notes warn that a closure can remain in the monthly capacity denominator until the monthly data reflect it, potentially depressing the weekly utilization estimate. That is a methodological limitation, not evidence that a closure caused this week's regional result. Table 2 does not identify the capacity reference month, and no particular shutdown or plant-level operating condition is inferred here.

An energy-company research note should keep the region, week, gross-input row and capacity basis together. The national 93.4% reading and PADD 4's 100.6% reading describe different geographic aggregates. Neither gives the operating rate of a particular issuer's assets.

Carry the measurement into contract research carefully

Before connecting this report to a company, identify which refineries it owns and obtain its own operating and financial disclosures. A regional throughput ratio supplies no company margin, earnings surprise or future stock-price move. It also supplies no option quote.

For a contract comparison, use the actual underlying, expiration, strike, exercise and settlement terms, and timestamped bid, ask and size. Our options-chain guide explains those fields; the liquidity and bid-ask guide covers execution limits. The earlier petroleum inventory comparison addresses a separate question about crude, product stocks and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Options involve substantial risk. A buyer can lose the premium; sellers can face assignment obligations and losses beyond the premium received, with theoretically unlimited loss on an uncovered call. Liquidity, transaction costs, exercise funding, concentration, settlement and tax consequences depend on the position and account. Options Matrix Pro publishes this article and offers commercial options-analysis software. This is general education, not personal financial, legal or tax advice or a recommendation to trade.

If a research premise calls the 100.6% reading impossible, check its numerator and capacity rating before using that premise to compare contracts.

Sources and timing

The fixed 21 October EIA archive, its Table 2 PDF and CSV, definitions and explanatory notes were accessed on 22 October 2026 Australia/Brisbane. The figures are that release's weekly estimates, not final monthly measurements. EIA's revision policy allows substantive weekly corrections in a subsequent scheduled release.

EIA's schedule places the standard Wednesday release at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, or 12:30 a.m. on 22 October in Brisbane. The full-report PDF normally follows at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, or 3:00 a.m. Brisbane. These are scheduled availability times, not independently observed first-publication seconds. The NYSE core equity close was 4:00 p.m. EDT, or 6:00 a.m. Brisbane; that reference does not establish every options contract's closing time.