EIA: US commercial crude inventories piled up nearly 9 million barrels

According to the latest report from the Energy Information Administration, the US commercial crude inventories built up 8.8 million barrels last week mostly due to higher imports and the ongoing releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 

The US imported 6.8 million barrels per day while the government released another 7.5 million barrels from the reserves. 

Gasoline stocks rose 330,000 barrels during the week to 214.8 million barrels. Industry experts estimated demand for gasoline in the US fell about 8% compared to the same period last year.

Refineries in the country operated at 90.9% last week, down 1.8% from the week before.