According to foreign sources on March 13th, a report released by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) on Wednesday showed an unexpected decrease in US crude oil inventories and a decline in gasoline inventories in the latest week, as gasoline demand increased despite refineries increasing their activities after repairs and shutdowns.

The EIA report shows that after six consecutive weeks of increase, as of the week ending March 8th, US crude oil inventories decreased by 1.5 million barrels to 4,469.9 million barrels, with a market estimate of an increase of 1.3 million barrels.

That week, US gasoline inventories decreased by 5.7 million barrels to 234.08 million barrels, following market estimates of a decrease of 1.9 million barrels; Except for the West Coast, inventory in all major refining centers has decreased. The gasoline inventory along the Gulf Coast of the United States decreased by 588,000 barrels to 78.4 million barrels, the lowest level since November 2022.

Last week, the processing capacity of US refineries increased by 390,000 barrels per day, and the capacity utilization rate increased by 1.9% from the previous week to 86.8%.

Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn said, "Gasoline is our driving force today. People are increasingly concerned that gasoline supply is becoming increasingly tight due to seasonal maintenance and other reasons for production stoppages."

As of the week ending March 8th, distillate oil inventories, including diesel and heating oil, increased by 888,000 barrels to 117.9 million barrels, with a market estimate of a decrease of 150,000 barrels.

The EIA report shows that the inventory of Cushing crude oil in Oklahoma has decreased by 220,000 barrels, and the net import volume of crude oil in the United States has decreased by 241,000 barrels per day.

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