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The commercial crude inventories in the US surprisingly rose 3.2 million barrels in the week ending 22 March 2024, driven by stronger net imports and weakened gasoline demand, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.

At 448.2 million barrels, US crude inventories are about 2% below the five-year average at this time of year.

US net crude imports almost doubled from the week before to 2.52 million barrels per day.

Refinery utilization rates rose by 0.9 percentage points during the week to 88.7%.

Total motor gasoline inventory increased for the second week in a row, adding another 1.3 million barrels from the prior week to 232.1 million barrels. According to the report, gasoline demand fell by 94,000 barrels per day. 

Crude oil production in the country remained stable at 13.1 million barrels per day.