U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Down Last Week - EIA

(RTTNews) - Crude oil and gasoline inventories in the U.S. dipped during the week ended July 05, official data showed Wednesday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration in its weekly crude oil report said U.S. commercial crude oil inventories dived 9.90 million barrels to 373.90 million barrels last week, but are near the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

The week before, crude oil inventories dipped 10.30 million barrels to 383.80 million barrels.

Analyst expected crude oil inventories to shed 2.90 million barrels and gasoline stocks to ease 200,000 barrels last week.

Moreover, total motor gasoline inventories moved down by 2.60 million barrels last week, after dipping 1.70 million barrels in the prior week, but are well above the upper limit of the average range.

Late Tuesday, data from the API revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories dived 9.00 million barrels and gasoline stocks down 3.50 million barrels in the weekended July 05.

Oil refinery inputs averaged 16.10 million barrels per day during the week, which were 28,000 barrels per day above the previous week's average as refineries operated at 92.40 percent of their operable capacity.

Meantime, U.S. crude oil imports during the week averaged over 7.50 million barrels per day last week, up by 118,000 barrels per day from the previous week, official data revealed. Over the last four weeks, imports have averaged 7.90 million barrels per day, which were about 1.10 million barrels per day below the same four-week period last year.

Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for August delivery are gaining $1.53 to $105.06 a barrel.