Enbridge crude line outage trims Midwest supplies: EIA

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Midwestern oil refineries were largely unaffected by a prolonged outage from a key Canadian crude supplier which only served to trim record high levels of crude stocks reached the week earlier, government inventory data showed on Wednesday.

Refinery runs in PADD 2, which encompasses the Midwest and is a key import point for Canadian crude from Enbridge, were down less than a percentage point to 93.3 percent of capacity, the weekly Energy Information Administration report for the week ended August 6 showed.

Regional crude inventories were 95.4 million barrels, down 2.4 million barrels from the record high 97.7 million barrels set a week earlier.

Enbridge, the largest exporter of Canadian crude into the United States, shut down its Line 6B on July 26 after a leak was discovered in Kalamazoo, Michigan. There is no timeline for restart but the damaged portion of the pipe is being replaced.

The line can carry 190,000 barrel per day of oil and runs from Griffith, Indiana to Sarnia, Ontario.

Most of the 700,000 bpd of refinery capacity served by the line has been able to find alternate supply. The two refineries in Toledo, Ohio and one in Warren, Pennsylvania trimmed runs but many of the refiners have alternate means of supply and were able to tweak crude slates.

Gasoline production for the week was 2.3 million bpd of gasoline, only 36,000 bpd less the week earlier, which was offset by an increase in imports.

Although gasoline stocks were 100,000 barrels higher at 51 million barrels last week, wholesale gasoline prices in the region's two market hubs strengthened and fluctuated.

Group Three and Chicago wholesale product prices strengthened and waned over past week as the market sought equilibrium.

"I think the outage is the primary reason for the strength in the Chicago spot market for the last week or so," said one Midwestern trader.

(Reporting by Janet McGurty; Editing by Marguerita Choy)