EIA: US crude inventories up 3 million bbl

US crude oil inventories for the week ended Aug. 8, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased by 3 million bbl from the previous week, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

At 426.7 million bbl, US crude oil inventories are about 6% below the 5-year average for this time of year, the EIA report indicated.

EIA said total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 800,000 bbl from last week and are at the 5-year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories increased while blending components inventories decreased last week. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 700,000 bbl last week and are about 15% below the 5-year average for this time of year.

Propane-propylene inventories increased by 3.9 million bbl from last week and are 11% above the 5-year average for this time of year, EIA said.

US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 17.2 million b/d for the week ended Aug. 8, about 56,000 b/d more than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 96.4% of capacity.

Gasoline production increased, averaging 9.8 million b/d. Distillate fuel production increased by 32,000 b/d, averaging 5.1 million b/d.

US crude oil imports averaged 6.9 million b/d, up by 958,000 b/d from the previous week. Over the last 4 weeks, crude oil imports averaged 6.2 million b/d, 5.1% less than the same 4-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports averaged 632,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 107,000 b/d.