Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were up by 7.1 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ending July 4, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Wednesday.
US inventories now stand about 8% below the five-year average for this time of year. Crude oil refinery inputs averaged 17 million barrels per day for the corresponding week, which is 98,000 barrels per day lower than the average for the previous week.
Refineries operated at 94.7% of their operable capacity, slightly lower than the previous week. The gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.9 million barrels per day. Imports of crude oil in the country averaged 6.1 million barrels per day last week, down by 9.6% compared to the same period the previous year. Total commercial petroleum inventories declined by 6.4 million barrels.
