Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were up by 4.6 million barrels to 432.5 million barrels in the week ending February 14, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Thursday.
The country's inventories now stand about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.4 million barrels per day for the corresponding week, which is 15,000 barrels per day lower than the previous week's average.
Refineries operated at 84.9% 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 5.8 million barrels per day last week, going down by 488,000 barrels per day. Total commercial petroleum inventories climbed by 200,000 barrels last week.