US Commercial Crude Oil Inventories Decline Last Week

US commercial crude oil inventories decline last week

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Xinhua) — US commercial crude oil and gasoline stockpiles fell over the past week, but distillate fuel inventories increased, the Energy Department reported Wednesday.

In the week ending July 12, commercial crude oil inventories dropped by 900,000 barrels to 320.1 million, according to data released by the department.

The data also showed that the nation’s gasoline stocks decreased 1.3 million barrels last week to 211.3 million. However, the supply of distillate fuel, including diesel and heating oil, rose 2.3 million barrels to 122.7 million.

A parallel survey by the private American Petroleum Institute found that US commercial crude oil fell by 4.96 million barrels last week to 316.70 million. Gasoline inventories declined 4.14 million barrels to 212.26 million.

The institute’s survey also showed that the reserve of distillate fuel increased 1.25 million barrels to 121.48 million last week.

The above data for petroleum products do not include the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which the Bush administration plans to boost to 700 million barrels by September this year.