The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that U.S. crude oil inventories rose while gasoline and distillate inventories declined last week.
Inventories of crude oil rose by 1.6 million barrels in the week ended March 10 to 480.1 million barrels. According to a Reuters poll, analysts had expected a rise of 1.2 million barrels.
The administration said crude inventories at a delivery center in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 1.9 million barrels last week.
The administration said the rate of crude oil consumption at refineries increased by 431,000 barrels per day, and refinery rates increased by 2.2 percentage points this week.
The administration said U.S. gasoline inventories fell 2.1 million barrels in the same week to 236 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations of a 1.8 million barrel decline.
The data showed that inventories of distillates, including diesel and heating oil, fell 2.5 million barrels to 119.7 million barrels in the same week, compared with an expected decline of 1.2 million barrels.
The administration indicated that US net oil imports fell by 1.72 million barrels per day.
