U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.9 million barrels per day during the week ending Dec. 31, 163,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average, according to the weekly report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

Refineries operated at 89.8 percent of their operable capacity last week, while gasoline production went down, averaging 8.5 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production rose, averaging 5.0 million barrels per day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 5.9 million barrels per day last week, down by 0.9 million barrels per day from the previous week.

Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.3 million barrels per day, 16.7 percent more than the same four-week period last year.

Including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, total motor gasoline imports averaged 596,000 barrels per day last week, and distillate fuel imports averaged 217,000 barrels per day in the same period.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, dropped by 2.1 million barrels from the previous week. At 417.9 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories were about 8 percent below the five year average for this time of year.

Over the last four-week period, total products supplied averaged 21.4 million barrels a day, up by 14.4 percent from the same period last year, while motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.1 million barrels a day, up by 15.2 percent from the same period last year.

Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.1 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 12.2 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 36.8 percent compared with the same four-week period last year.

The United States has been a major global oil producer over the past years, thanks to the surging growth in its shale oil production.
Source: Xinhua