US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 14.5 million bbl for the week ended Sept. 2 compared with the previous week, the Energy Information Administration reported.
The latest estimated total was 511.4 million bbl, which remains a historically high level for this time of year, the Petroleum Status Report showed. EIA released the inventory Sept. 8, which was a day later than normal because of the Sept. 5 Labor Day holiday.
US refinery inputs averaged more than 16.9 million b/d for the week ended Sept. 2, which was 315,000 b/d higher than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 93.7% of capacity last week. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging about 10.2 million b/d while distillate fuel production also increased, averaging more than 5 million b/d.
US crude oil imports averaged about 7.1 million b/d for the week ended Sept. 2, down by 1.8 million b/d from the previous week. Over the last 4 weeks, crude oil imports averaged 8.2 million b/d, 7.4% above the same 4-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, averaged 607,000 b/d for the week ended Sept. 2 while distillate fuel imports averaged 108,000 b/d.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased 4.2 million bbl yet the level remains well above the upper limit of the average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories decreased.
Distillate fuel inventories increased 3.4 million bbl for the week ended Sept. 2 and are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Propane-propylene inventories rose 600,000 bbl and remain above the upper limit of the average range.