EIA: US crude oil inventories build by 800,000 bbl

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased by 800,000 bbl for the week ended Feb. 28 compared with the previous week, the Energy Information Administration said.

At 444.1 million bbl, oil inventories are about 4% below the 5-year average for this time of year, EIA said in its weekly Petroleum Status Report.

Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 4.3 million bbl, reaching 2% above the 5-year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline and blending components inventories both decreased. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.0 million bbl to reach about 7% below the 5-year average for this time of year.

Propane-propylene inventories decreased by 3.6 million bbl for the week ended Feb. 28, reaching about 37% above the 5-year average for this time of year.

US refineries operated at 86.9% of capacity, with inputs averaging 15.7 million b/d for the week ended Feb. 28, which was down 312,000 b/d from the previous week’s average. Gasoline production decreased, averaging 9.8 million b/d. Distillate fuel production decreased, averaging 4.6 million b/d.

Crude oil imports rose, averaging 6.2 million b/d for the week. That was up by 21,000 b/d from the previous week. Over the past 4 weeks, oil imports averaged about 6.5 million b/d, which was 2.5% less than the same 4-week period for 2019.

Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, last week averaged 511,000 b/d and distillate fuel imports averaged 125,000 b/d.