Data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed that U.S. crude oil inventories fell for the sixth week in a row, as exports increased and refineries operated near full capacity.

According to the EIA, commercial crude oil stocks, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 8.0 million barrels to 433.7 million barrels for the week ending May 29. This level is approximately 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. Analysts had forecast a smaller draw of 3.3 million barrels.

Oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve also fell by 8.0 million barrels to 357.1 million barrels due to ongoing emergency releases. At the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), inventories declined by 583,000 barrels to 22.4 million barrels.

U.S. crude oil production held steady at 13.7 million barrels per day. Daily crude imports rose by 1.2 million barrels to 6.4 million barrels, while daily exports increased by 1.4 million barrels to 5.9 million barrels.

Refinery capacity utilization edged up by 0.2 percentage points to 94.7%. However, daily crude oil inputs at refineries decreased by 90,000 barrels to 16.9 million barrels. Analysts had predicted a slightly larger rise in the refinery utilization rate of 0.3 percentage points.

Gasoline inventories ended a streak of 15 consecutive weekly declines, increasing by 3.4 million barrels to 215 million barrels. This level remains 5% below the five-year average. Daily gasoline demand dropped by 662,000 barrels to 8.6 million barrels. Market expectations had been for a 600,000-barrel draw in gasoline stocks.

Distillate fuel oil inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.5 million barrels to 102.3 million barrels, against market forecasts for a decrease of 800,000 barrels. Daily distillate demand fell by 480,000 barrels to 3.5 million barrels.

Summary of key U.S. petroleum inventory changes for the week ending May 29 (in million barrels, except refinery utilization in percentage points):

Crude: -8.0 (Actual) vs. -3.3 (Forecast)

Gasoline: +3.4 (Actual) vs. -0.6 (Forecast)

Distillate: +1.5 (Actual) vs. -0.8 (Forecast)

Refinery Utilization (change in ppts): +0.2 (Actual) vs. +0.3 (Forecast)