US commercial crude oil inventories rose by 2 million barrels last week, while refinery operations remained strong and transportation fuel demand showed modest gains over the year, the US Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.
Commercial crude stocks, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, climbed to 411.7 million barrels for the week ended July 17, but remained 6% below the five-year average for the 2021-2025 period, according to the EIA's weekly petroleum status report.
Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 11.6 million barrels during the week.
Gasoline inventories rose by 800,000 barrels but were still 7% below the five-year average, while distillate stocks increased by 1.4 million barrels and stood 10% below the historical average.
Propane and propylene inventories posted a larger gain, rising 6.3 million barrels and remaining 34% above the five-year average.
US refineries operated at 96.1% of capacity, processing 17.1 million barrels per day, a decline of 58,000 b/d from the previous week. Gasoline production averaged 9.7 million b/d, while distillate output increased to 5.3 million b/d.
Crude oil imports rose by 117,000 b/d to 5.8 million b/d. Despite the weekly increase, the four-week average of 5.6 million b/d was 11% below the level recorded a year earlier.
Gasoline imports averaged 494,000 b/d, while distillate imports averaged 173,000 b/d.
Total US petroleum product demand averaged 20.4 million b/d over the past four weeks, down 1% from the same period last year.
Gasoline demand increased 1% year over year to 8.9 million b/d, while distillate demand rose 2% to 3.7 million b/d. Jet fuel demand posted a stronger gain, rising 9% from a year earlier.
The increase in transportation fuel demand was partially offset by weaker consumption of residual fuel oil, propane, and other petroleum products, the EIA said.