Washington: The US Energy Information Administration confirmed that US inventories of crude oil, gasoline, and distillates declined over the past week. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the agency said crude oil inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels to 457.2 million barrels last week.

According to Qatar News Agency, crude stocks at the delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, decreased by 648,000 barrels. Refinery crude runs declined by 42,000 barrels per day during the week, while refinery utilization rates rose by 0.5 percentage point over the same period.

The agency also said that US gasoline inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels last week to 219.8 million barrels. Distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, dropped by 1.3 million barrels to 102.3 million barrels, while net crude oil imports increased by 1.42 million barrels per day.