EIA Report: Crude Oil and Distillate Inventories in the US rose last week, while gasoline inventories decreased.

The latest data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed that as of the week ending March 28, both crude oil and distillate fuel inventories in the United States increased, while gasoline inventories decreased. The data showed that U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 6.2 million barrels last week, totaling 439.8 million barrels, while analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected a decrease of 2.1 million barrels. In addition, crude oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery center increased by 2.4 million barrels. The EIA report stated that last week, U.S. refinery crude oil input decreased by 192,000 barrels per day, and refinery utilization decreased by 1 percentage point. This may reflect some refineries entering the spring maintenance season, leading to a decrease in processing capacity. As for refined products, U.S. gasoline inventories decreased by 1.6 million barrels, totaling 237.6 million barrels, slightly lower than analysts' expected decrease of 1.7 million barrels. This indicates that demand remains robust, possibly related to the approaching spring driving season. Distillate fuel inventories, including diesel and heating oil, increased by 300,000 barrels, totaling 114.6 million barrels, while the market had expected a decrease of 1 million barrels. This may reflect short-term changes in supply-demand balance, or the result of refineries adjusting production strategies. In addition, the net crude oil imports to the United States increased by 999,000 barrels per day last week, indicating a slight recovery in U.S. market reliance on overseas crude oil.