Official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released Wednesday shows domestic crude oil inventories have now fallen for three consecutive weeks, even as gasoline and distillate stockpiles posted gains.

During the week ended September 11, commercial crude inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 640,000 barrels to 423.4 million barrels, a level that remains roughly 1% above the five-year seasonal average. The drawdown was shallower than the 1.4 million barrel decline that market participants had been anticipating.

SPR holdings eased by 403,000 barrels to 285 million barrels, while inventories at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma fell by 342,000 barrels to 21.5 million barrels.

Gasoline stocks rose by 794,000 barrels to 207.7 million barrels, sitting about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year, against an expected draw of 800,000 barrels. Implied gasoline demand climbed by 247,000 barrels per day to 8.8 million barrels daily.

Distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, increased by 1.6 million barrels to 107.9 million barrels, a figure that is 13% lower than the five-year seasonal norm. Forecasts had called for distillate stockpiles to remain flat.

The EIA pegged domestic crude production at 13.9 million barrels per day, essentially unchanged from the previous week. Crude imports advanced by 234,000 barrels per day to 7.1 million barrels daily, while crude exports surged by 1.4 million barrels per day to 4.8 million barrels, marking the largest single-week increase since late May.

Imports of Venezuelan crude have reached their highest level this year, with volumes hitting the strongest mark since 2017. Shipments arriving in the U.S. last week were just shy of 800,000 barrels, and the market is gradually approaching the 1 million barrel-per-day threshold last seen in the late 2010s. In the meantime, the Trump administration and the country are pursuing a series of oil agreements aimed at attracting capital and boosting output.

Refinery utilization came in at 96.8% of capacity, down from 97.8% a week earlier, as crude processing volumes dropped by 256,000 barrels per day to 17.3 million barrels daily. Analysts had predicted refinery runs would ease by 0.6 percentage points.