US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended April 17 following a decrease of 5.1 million barrels in the previous week.
Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 1.9 million barrels after a 900,000-barrel decline in the previous week, compared with the 2-million-barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:40 am ET.
Stocks in the SPR declined by 4.1 million in the week, the same as in the previous week.
Overall crude oil stocks were down 0.3% from the previous week but were still up 3.6% from a year earlier. Crude oil inventories are about 3% above the five-year average for this time of the year.
Gasoline stocks decreased by 4.6 million barrels, compared with the 2-million-barrel decrease expected. Gasoline stocks were down 2% from the previous week, and down 0.5% from a year earlier.
Distillate stocks plunged by 3.4 million barrels in the current week, compared with an expected decrease of 1.8 million barrels. Distillate stocks were down 3.1% from the previous week but were still up 1.2% than in the same week a year ago.
Refineries operated at 89.1% of their capacity, below the 89.6% rate in the previous week.