U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose unexpectedly last week as imports increased and exports fell, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 2 million barrels to 411.7 million barrels in the week ended July 17 and were about 6% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts in a Wall Street Journal survey had predicted a 1 million barrel crude stock draw.

The Department of Energy released 5.1 million barrels of oil from the SPR, leaving the reserve holding 311.4 million barrels. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were down by 674,000 barrels at 19.4 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.8 million barrels a day, down by 63,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Crude oil imports increased by 117,000 barrels a day to 5.8 million barrels a day, and exports fell by 368,000 barrels a day to 3.4 million barrels a day.

Refinery capacity use slipped to 96.1% from 96.2% the week before, with crude input to refineries down by 58,000 barrels a day at 17.1 million barrels a day. Refineries were seen running at 96% of capacity in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories rose by 765,000 barrels to 211.3 million barrels and were 7% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline demand was up by 103,000 barrels a day at 8.9 million barrels a day. Gasoline stocks were expected to have fallen by 1.1 million barrels.

Distillate fuel stocks grew by 1.4 million barrels to 109.6 million barrels, compared with expectations of a 100,000 barrel build, and were 10% below the five-year average for the time of year.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended July 17: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:           2.0           0.8            1.4                -0.1 
Forecast:          -1.0          -1.1            0.1                -0.2 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2026 10:57 ET (14:57 GMT)

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