Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), were down by 1.2 million barrels to 415.6 million barrels in the week ending December 27, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Thursday.

Crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.9 million barrels per day (bpd) during the reported week, increasing by 41,000 bpd compared to the previous week's figure. Refineries operated at 92.7% of their operable capacity, while gasoline production decreased, averaging 9.0 million bpd. Distillate fuel production rose, averaging 5.4 million bpd.

Crude oil imports rose by 455,000 bpd on a weekly basis to an average of 6.9 million bpd. Meanwhile, total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 9.3 million barrels.