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EIA: US oil inventories up by 1.1 million barrels
Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), went up by 1.1 million barrels to 481.2 million barrels in the week ending March 17, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) stated in its report issued on Wednesday.
The crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.4 million barrels per day (bpd) during the same week, declining by 21,000 barrels compared to the previous seven-day's average. Refineries operated at 88.6% of their capacity. Gasoline production rose, averaging 9.5 million bpd.
Imports of crude oil averaged 6.2 million bpd, dropping by 45,000 bpd compared to the previous week. Meanwhile, total commercial petroleum inventories went down by 10.4 million barrels.