US crude inventories rose by 6.8 million barrels for the week ending Jan. 26, its second consecutive rise after eleven weeks of declines, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Refineries processed an average 16 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, compared with 16.5 million bpd a week earlier. Refineries operated at 88.1 percent of their operable capacity, EIA said.
Gasoline inventories fell by 2 million barrels from a build of 3.1 million barrels for the previous week. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased by 1.9 million barrels.
Crude oil imports averaged about 8.4 million barrels per day last week, down by 380,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude imports averaged 8.0 million barrels per day, 4.3 percent less than the same four-week period last year, EIA said.
Earlier this week, S&P Global Platts had forecast an increase of 325,000 barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute predicted a rise of 3.2 million barrels.
In its January energy outlook report, EIA had raised its 2018 price forecasts on Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude to $59.74 and $54.74 per barrel, respectively.
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