U.S. crude oil inventories declined in the week ending July 20, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday.
According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), declined by 6.1 million barrels during the week.
The actual figure is much higher than the market expectation of 3.2 million barrels of crude oil draw.
In the previous week ending July 13, EIA reported an increase of 5.8 million barrels, 16.2 percent lower than the same week last year.
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 17.29 million barrels per day during the week ending July 20, at the same level of last year. The figure was also 46,000 barrels per day more than the previous week's average. Over the past four weeks, refinery inputs averaged 17.46 million barrels per day, 1.5 percent higher than the same four-week period of last year.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.8 million barrels per day last week, down 1.3 million barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged 8.33 million barrels per day, 6.1 percent higher than the same four-week period last year.
U.S. crude oil exports averaged 2.68 million barrels per day last week, up 1.22 million barrels per day from the previous week.
The net imports averaged 5.09 million barrels per day last week, down 2.52 million barrels per day from the previous week.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.3 million barrels last week, about 1.4 percent above the levels of the same week last year. This figure exceeds the market prediction of 800,000 barrels.
Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 100,000 barrels last week, down 19 percent from the same period last year. Total commercial petroleum inventories declined by 9.7 million barrels last week.
Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 21.05 million barrels per day, down 0.6 percent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline supplied averaged 9.68 million barrels per day, down 0.5 percent from the same period last year.
Distillate fuel supplied over the last four-week period averaged 4.06 million barrels per day, down 3.9 percent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, jet fuel supplied averaged 1.87 million barrels per day, maintaining the same levels of the same period last year.
According to EIA, U.S. crude oil production was 11 million barrels per day, which was the same as the previous week.
Oil prices went up on Wednesday after official data showed that U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories declined more than expected.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery rose 0.78 U.S. dollar to settle at 69.30 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for September delivery added 0.49 dollar to close at 73.93 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Editor: Cherie
