Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were down by 2.3 million barrels to 430.2 million barrels in the week ending February 21, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Wednesday.
US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.7 million barrels per day for the corresponding week, which is 317,000 barrels per day higher than the previous week's average. Refineries operated at 86.5% of their operable capacity last week, while gasoline production declined, averaging 9.2 million barrels per day.
Imports of crude oil in the country averaged 5.9 million barrels per day last week, going up by 98,000 barrels per day. Total commercial petroleum inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels last week.
