US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, remained virtually unchanged for the week ended Dec. 28, 2018, compared with the previous week, the US Energy Information Administration reported on Jan. 4 in its weekly report.
At 441.4 million bbl, estimated US oil inventories were 8% above the 5-year average for this time of year, EIA said. The Petroleum Status Report came out later than normal because of the New Year’s holiday.
Total US motor gasoline inventories increased by 6.9 million bbl for the week ended Dec. 28, which was about 5% above the 5-year average for this time of year.
US refinery inputs averaged 17.8 million b/d for the week ended Dec. 28, which was 410,000 b/d more than the previous week’s average.
Refineries operated at 97.2% of capacity last week. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.5 million b/d. Distillate fuel production increased last week, averaging 5.6 million b/d.
Crude oil imports averaged 7.4 million b/d, down by 264,000 b/d from the previous week. Over the past 4 weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 7.5 million b/d, 4.1% less than the same 4-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, last week averaged 314,000 b/d, and distillate fuel imports averaged 195,000 b/d.
