Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, declined by 1.7 million barrels to 437.4 million barrels in the week ending October 14, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report published on Wednesday.
The country's inventories now stand 2% below the five-year average for this time of year. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.6 million barrels per day, which is 132,000 barrels per day lower than the previous week's average. Refineries operated at 89.5% of their capacity, while gasoline production rose, averaging 9.4 million barrels per day.
Imports of crude oil in the US averaged 5.9 million barrels per day, dropping by 200,000 barrels per day compared to the previous week. In addition, total commercial petroleum inventories slumped by 2.5 million barrels from last week.
