U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Fall More Than Expected

U.S. crude oil inventories fell significantly last week, accompanied by declines in gasoline and distillate fuels. This was a result of increased capacity use by refineries, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Commercial crude oil stocks, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 12.2 million barrels to a total of 448.5 million barrels in the week ending June 28. These levels were approximately 4% below the five-year average for this time of year.