The Energy Information Administration said today, Wednesday, that U.S. stocks of crude oil and gasoline declined last week, while stocks of distillates rose.
FDA data showed that crude oil inventories fell 1.7 million barrels to 478.5 million barrels in the week ended March 3.
According to a Reuters poll, analysts had expected a 400,000 barrel increase in inventories.
The administration said crude inventories at a delivery center in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 890,000 barrels last week.
The administration said refinery crude oil consumption fell 12,000 barrels a day in the same week, while refinery operation increased 0.2 percentage points this week.
The administration said U.S. gasoline inventories fell 1.1 million barrels to 238.1 million barrels in the same week, compared with analysts’ expectations of a 1.9 million barrel decline.
The data showed that distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 0.1 million barrels in the same week to 122.3 million barrels, versus an expected decline of 1 million barrels.
The administration indicated that US net oil imports rose by 2.33 million barrels per day.
