US crude oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 11, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 600,000 bbl from the previous week, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

At 423.4 million bbl, US crude oil inventories are 1% above the 5-year average for this time of year, the EIA report indicated.

EIA said total motor gasoline inventories increased by 800,000 bbl from last week and are 5% below the 5-year average for this time of year. Distillate inventories increased by 1.6 million bbl last week and are about 13% below the 5-year average for this time of year.

Propane-propylene inventories decreased 1.4 million bbl, 22% above the 5-year average. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 2.6 million bbl for the week.

US refineries processed 17.3 million b/d for the week ended Sept. 11, which was 256,000 b/d less than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 96.8% of capacity.

Gasoline output averaged 9.6 million b/d, and distillate production decreased to 5.2 million b/d.

US crude oil imports averaged 7.1 million b/d, up 234,000 b/d from the previous week. Over the last 4 weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.7 million b/d, 7.5% more than the same 4-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports averaged 537,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 114,000 b/d.