US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, declined 2.2 million bbl during the week ended Apr. 7 compared with the previous week’s total, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
It marks just the second drop of the past 14 weeks. At 533.4 million bbl, US crude inventories are near the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Separate data from the American Petroleum Institute indicated crude inventories lost 1.3 million bbl last week.
EIA reported that total motor gasoline inventories decreased 3 million bbl last week but are in the upper half of the average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories fell.
Distillate fuel inventories dropped 2.2 million bbl but are in the upper half of the average range for this time of year. Propane-propylene inventories fell 1.2 million bbl and are in the lower half of the average range. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased 4.7 million bbl.
US crude refinery inputs during the week ended Apr. 7 averaged 16.7 million b/d, up 268,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 91% of their operable capacity.
Both gasoline production and distillate fuel production increased to 9.9 million b/d and 5.1 million b/d, respectively.
US crude imports averaged 7.9 million b/d, up 28,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Over the last 4 weeks, crude imports averaged 8.1 million b/d, up 3.0% from the same 4-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, averaged 488,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 118,000 b/d last week.
