New York, April 15 (QNA) – The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced Wednesday that crude oil, distillate, and gasoline inventories in the US declined last week.

The EIA, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, explained in its report issued Wednesday that crude oil inventories fell by 913,000 barrels to 463.8 million barrels, compared to expectations of an increase of 154,000 barrels.

The report also indicated that crude oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, distribution hub fell by 1.7 million barrels during the week. Oil futures contracts pared their earlier losses following the release of the report.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) added that refinery crude oil consumption fell by 208,000 barrels per day, and refinery utilization rates rose 2.4 percentage points during the week to 89.6 percent.

The EIA also noted that US gasoline inventories fell by 6.3 million barrels last week to 232.9 million barrels, compared to expectations of a 2.1-million-barrel decline.

The EIA data showed that distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.1 million barrels to 111.6 million barrels, compared to expectations of a 2.4-million-barrel decrease.

The EIA further indicated that net U.S. crude oil imports fell by 2.11 million barrels per day last week. (QNA)