Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were up by 3.2 million barrels to 448.2 million barrels in the week ending March 22, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Wednesday. The country's inventories now stand about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year.
US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.9 million barrels per day for the corresponding timeframe, which is 148,000 barrels per day more than the previous week's average.
Refineries operated at 88.7% of their operable capacity last week, while gasoline production was down, averaging 9.2 million barrels per day. Imports of crude oil in the country averaged 6.7 million barrels per day last week, increasing by 424,000 barrels per day. Total commercial petroleum inventories surged by 5.3 million barrels in the reported week.
