Oil prices were higher following the report. Global Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $91.82 a barrel, up 80 cents, at 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 were trading at $86.03 a barrel, up $1.09.
"The crack spread environment is driving that and driving strong crude demand so on that basis the report is modestly bullish," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital.
The U.S. diesel crack, which is a measure of refining profitability, hit a record high of earlier this week amid global disruptions from the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
$102.2 a barrel
Meanwhile, the national average U.S. price for regular gasoline is currently $4.086 a gallon, according to motorist group AAA, up around $1 per gallon from a year ago.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright met with refiners this week to explore ways for the government to help them boost refining output in a bid to help lower prices. Wright said the government would soon announce steps to help increase fuel production, though he did not specify what sorts of actions the government would take.
"There is no room to ramp up, I mean US refiners are already operating at an incredibly high level, we should start to be concerned about them breaking so we wouldn't want to stress them even more, the U.S. refining industry is not the problem here," said Kilduff.
U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 0.7 million barrels in the week to 209.4 million barrels, the EIA said.
Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.5 million barrels in the week to 105.6 million barrels.
Total product supplied, a proxy for demand, fell by 1.1 million bpd to 19.538 million bp. Gasoline supplied fell to 8.69 million bpd from 8.96 million bpd, while distillate demand rose to 3.95 million bpd, from 3.46 million bpd.
Net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI fell by 1.75 million barrels per day, EIA said.
Crude and gasoline inventories rise while distillates fall
U.S. crude and gasoline inventories rose while distillate stockpiles fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, while refiners cranked up utilization to capture higher fuel prices.
Crude inventories rose by 4.4 million barrels to 428.8 million barrels in the week ended August 14, the EIA said.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI fell by 1.3 million barrels in the week, the EIA said.
Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI rose by 216,000 barrels per day, the highest since September 2019, the EIA said, while utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 1 percentage point in the week to 97.2%.
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