Washington: The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced a decrease in US crude oil inventories, while gasoline and distillate stocks increased last week.

According to Qatar News Agency, the EIA, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, explained in a statement on Wednesday that crude oil inventories fell by 1.8 million barrels to 425.7 million barrels last week, compared to expectations of a 2.3 million barrel decline. It added that crude oil stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 308,000 barrels during the same week.

The EIA also noted that refinery crude runs decreased by 16,000 barrels per day, while refinery utilization rates rose by 0.4 percent to 94.5 percent. The EIA indicated that US gasoline inventories rose by 6.4 million barrels during the week to 220.8 million barrels, compared to expectations of a 2.8 million barrel increase.

The data also showed that distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.5 million barrels in the week to 116.8 million barrels, compared with expectations of a 1.9 million barrel increase, while net U.S. crude oil imports rose by 212,000 barrels per day to 2.6 million barrels per day.