Crude prices slipped on Thursday after U.S. crude inventories added more than 2 million barrels.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels for the week ending on January 13.
That gain pushed total U.S. commercial crude inventories up to 485.5 million barrels, placing inventories near the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 6 million barrels last week and are now above the upper limit of the average range, the EIA said.
Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1 million barrels last week but are still above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Propane/propylene inventories fell by 7.4 million barrels last week but remain in the upper half of the average range.
Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 2 million barrels last week, the EIA said.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 8.4 million barrels per day last week, a 674,000 bpd decline from the previous week.
Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports averaged 8.2 million barrels per day, a 4.5 percent increase from the same four-week period last year.
Total motor gasoline imports, including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components, last week averaged 588,000 bpd.
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged about 16.5 million bpd last week, a 639,000 bpd decline from the previous week’s average.
Refineries operated at 90.7 percent of their operable capacity last week, the EIA said.
Gasoline production decreased last week to an average of about 9 million bpd.
Distillate fuel production also fell last week to an average of over 4.7 million bpd.
West Texas Intermediate prices slipped from $51.80 per barrel on Thursday morning to $51.49 per barrel following the report’s publication.
Brent crude prices ticked down from a high of $54.60 per barrel late Thursday morning to $54.28 just before noon.
