Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were down by 6 million barrels to 439.7 million barrels in the week ending August 11, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Wednesday.
The figure marked a larger-than-expected draw. The country's inventories now stand 1% below the five-year average for this time of year. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.7 million barrels per day for the corresponding timeframe, which is 166,000 barrels per day more than the previous week's average.
Refineries operated at 94.7% of their operable capacity last week, while gasoline production slowed, averaging 9.6 million barrels per day. Imports of crude oil in the country averaged 7.2 million barrels per day last week, rising by 476,000 barrels per day. Total commercial petroleum inventories slumped by 7.4 million barrels.
