U.S. crude oil refinery inputs increase last week

HOUSTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil refinery inputs grew during the Week ending March 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on WednesDAY.

According to EIA's data, U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.2 million barrels per DAY last Week, 178,000 barrels per DAY more than the previous Week's average. U.S. refineries operated at 88.9 percent of their operable capacity.

EIA also reported an increase in gasoline production, averaging 9.9 million barrels per DAY. Distillate fuel production was also up last Week, averaging 4.9 million barrels per DAY.

Total products supplied over the last four-Week period averaged 21.1 million barrels per DAY, up by 2.8 percent from the same period last year.

Over the past four Weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.1 million barrels per DAY, down by 1.4 percent from the same period last year.

Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.2 million barrels per DAY over the past four Weeks, up by 8.2 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 7.2 percent compared with the same four-Week period last year.

Meanwhile, the national price for regular gasoline on WednesDAY averaged about 2.58 U.S. dollars per gallon (about 3.8 liters), compared with 2.51 dollars per gallon a Week ago and 2.57 dollars per gallon a year ago, according to data from the American Automobile Association.