(Updates to include additional details.)
US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 17.4 million barrels to 424.4 mmbbls in the week ended Aug. 7, the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Wednesday.
Crude inventories were about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA said.
The larger-than-expected build is above Investing.com's estimate of a 1.7-mmbbl draw for the week ended Aug. 7.
US Strategic Petroleum Reserve inventories dropped to 298.7 mmbbls in the week ended Aug. 7, down from 304.8 mmbbls a week earlier, marking a weekly decline of 6.1 mmbbls, EIA data showed.
Crude oil input to refineries increased by 26,000 barrels per day from the previous week to average about 17.2 million b/d in the week ended Aug. 7. Crude oil production rose by 1,000 b/d to 13.8 million b/d.
Commercial crude imports increased by 1.14 mmb/d to average about 7.3 million b/d.
Total motor gasoline stockpiles decreased by 1 mmbbls from the previous week to 208.7 mmbbls, while distillate stocks dropped by 100,000 barrels to 107.1 mmbbls.