-- US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 7.5 million barrels in the week ended May 1 following a decrease of 13.4 million barrels in the previous week.
Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks decreased by 2.3 million barrels after a 6.2-million-barrel drop in the previous week, compared with the 3.4-million-barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:35 am ET.
Stocks in the SPR declined by 5.2 million in the week after falling by 7.1 million in the previous week.
Overall crude oil stocks were down 0.9% from the previous week but were still up 1.5% from a year earlier. Crude oil inventories are about 1% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Gasoline stocks declined by 2.5 million barrels, compared with the 2.6-million-barrel decrease expected. Gasoline stocks edged lower by 1.1% from the previous week and 2.6% from a year earlier.
Distillate stocks dropped by 1.3 million barrels in the current week, compared with an expected decrease of 2.3 million barrels. Distillate stocks were down 1.2% from the previous week and 4.1% lower than in the same week a year ago.
Refineries operated at 90.1% of their capacity, up from 89.6% in the previous week.