US oil inventories dip despite rising imports and domestic output, DoE says

US crude oil stockpiles dipped last week, despite a rise in imports and domestic oil production.

During the week ending 18 August, commercial US crude oil inventories decreased by 3.3m barrels from the previous week to reach 463.2m, according to the Energy Information Administration, the US Department of Energy's statistical arm.

In parallel, gasoline stockpiles shrank by 1.2m barrels but remained near the upper limit of their average range, while those of distillates were unchanged and in the upper half of their average range.

Crude imports averaged 8.8m barrels per day during the reference week, up by 664,000 barrels per day from the previous week.

Meanwhile, refineries operated at 95.4% of their capacity, down from 96.1% in the prior week.

Domestic US oil output increased by 26,000 b/d to 9.53m b/d with slightly over half of the increase originating from Alaska, the DoE said in a separate report.

As of 15:34 BST, front month West Texas Intermediate futures were 0.5% higher to $48.06 per barrel on the ICE.