Data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed commercial crude oil stocks in the United States decreased by 7.4 million barrels in the week ended July 31 to 518.6 million barrels. However, the inventories remained 16% higher than the five-year average for this time of year, EIA noted.
According to the data, motor gasoline stockpiles were 8% above the five-year range for this time of year after rising by 419,000 barrels last week. Finished gasoline stocks fell while blending component inventories rose in the same week. Distillate fuel stockpiles were 27% higher than the five-year average for this time of year after increasing by 1.6 million barrels last week. Propane-propylene stocks rose by 2.3 million barrels last week to around 13% above the five-year average, EIA reported.
US refinery inputs increased by about 42,000 bpd to an average of 14.6 million bpd during the reporting week. US refinery utilization rates stood at 79.6% of capacity, with gasoline and distillate fuel production rising to 9.3 million bpd and 4.9 million bpd, respectively.
The US imported an average of 6.0 million bpd of crude oil last week, about 900,000 bpd higher than the prior week. Over the last 4 weeks, crude oil imports fell 18.1% year-on-year to an average of 5.7. Total motor gasoline and distillate fuel imports averaged 657,000 bpd and 131,000 bpd, respectively.
