Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), were down by 4.2 million barrels to 416.8 million barrels in the week ending December 20, standing 5% below the five-year average for this time of ear, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Friday.
The crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the reported week, climbing by 205,000 bpd compared to the previous week's figure. Refineries operated at 92.5% of their operable capacity, while gasoline production increased and averaged 9.9 million bpd.
Crude oil imports dropped by 178,000 bpd on a weekly basis to average 6.5 million bpd. Meanwhile, total commercial petroleum inventories were down by 12.7 million barrels.
