US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased 6.5 million bbl for the week ended Jan. 27 from the previous week, the US Energy Information Administration reported Feb. 1. It marked the fourth straight week in which they climbed (OGJ Online, Jan. 25, 2017).
Inventories rose more than expected. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected oil supplies to have increased 2.9 million bbl.
The latest crude oil inventory total was 494.8 million bbl, putting crude supplies near the upper range for this time of year, EIA said.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 3.9 million bbl, which EIA said was above the upper limit of the average range. Gasoline production increased, averaging 9.1 million b/d. Distillate fuel production averaged 4.7 million b/d.
US crude oil refinery inputs averaged over 15.9 million b/d during the week ended Jan. 27, which was 100,000 b/d less than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 88.2% of capacity.
US crude oil imports averaged 8.3 million b/d, up 480,000 b/d from the previous week. Over the last 4 weeks, crude oil imports averaged 8.4 million b/d, up 5.3% above the same 4-week period a year ago.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, averaged 488,000 b/d. Distillate fuel imports averaged 236,000 b/d for the week ended Jan. 27, EIA said.