U.S. oil inventories decrease, prices up around 2 pct

HOUSTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil inventories decreased last week ending March 16, and the refining sector input 410,000 barrels per day more than the previous week's average, according to a report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report by the EIA, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, of the week ending March 16, decreased by 2.6 million barrels from the previous week.

At 428.3 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are in the lower half of the average range for this time of year.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.5 million barrels per day, up by 4.9 percent from the same period last year.

Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged about 9.3 million barrels per day, up by 1.9 percent from the same period last year.

Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.9 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, down by 4.5 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied is up 4.8 percent compared to the same four-week period last year.

Stimulated by EIA's crude draw report, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude prices increased on Wednesday morning over 2 percent, standing at 64 U.S. dollars and 68 dollars levels, respectively. Enditem