On September 13, the US EIA released its Weekly Petroleum Status Report, which indicated that crude inventories increased by 4 million barrels from the previous week, compared to analyst consensus of -1.9 million, Report informs, citing foreign media sources.
At current levels, crude inventories are about 2% below the five-year average for this time of the year.
The increase in crude inventories was driven by the strong growth in crude oil imports, which averaged 7.6 million bpd. Total motor gasoline inventories grew by 5.6 million barrels, while distillate fuel inventories increased by 3.9 million barrels.