The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Aug. 7 in its "Weekly Petroleum Status Report" that domestic gasoline stockpiles and refinery runs climbed in the week to Aug. 2.

Total U.S. crude oil inputs climbed 4.6% on the week to 17.8 million barrels per day for a trailing four-week average of 17.2 million bbl/d, down 1.3% from the same period a year ago but 1.3% above the average seen during the previous five years. The EIA pegged U.S. refinery utilization at 96.4%, in line with the year-ago level but up from the five-year average of 94.6%, with PADD 1 utilization falling to 74.0%.

On June 21, a fire broke out at a 335,000-bbl/d refinery operated by Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc. in PADD 1, destroying one of the complex's alkylation units. Ahead of the disaster, one of the plant's fluid catalytic cracking units, which converts high-boiling, high-molecular-weight hydrocarbon fractions into products such as gasoline, had reportedly been shut down for two weeks due to a prior fire. The company announced June 26 that it will shut down the complex and prepare it for sale.

Total U.S. gasoline production was mixed versus historical averages. Finished motor gasoline production was up 0.9% from the prior week to bring the trailing four-week average to 10.1 million bbl/d, down 0.8% from the year-ago level but up 0.2% from the five-year average.

Distillate production climbed 2.4% on the week, bringing the trailing four-week average to 5.3 million bbl/d, up 1.8% from the same week a year ago and up 4.4% versus the five-year average.

U.S. crude oil inventories, excluding the strategic petroleum reserve, climbed by 2.4 million barrels from the week prior to 438.9 million barrels, while total gasoline inventories climbed by 4.4 million barrels to 235.2 million barrels. Distillate inventories climbed by 1.5 million barrels to 137.5 million barrels.