U.S. commercial crude oil inventories fell -6.0 million barrels in the week ending August 15 to 420.7 million barrels, about 6% below the 5-yr seasonal average, reflecting tighter supply conditions.

• Total commercial petroleum inventories declined -4.2 million barrels, despite increases in distillate (+2.3M bbl) and propane/propylene (+2.6M bbl) stocks.

• Motor gasoline inventories dropped -2.7 million bbl and now sit 1% below the 5-yr average, with both finished gasoline and blending components declining.

• Refinery runs edged up to 17.2 million bpd (+28k bpd WoW), with utilization rising to 96.6%, indicating strong processing activity.

• Crude oil imports fell to 6.5 million bpd (-423k bpd WoW) and are -2.3% YoY on a 4-week average basis, contributing to the drawdown.

• Product demand remained strong: total products supplied averaged 21.1 million bpd over the past four weeks (+3.3% YoY), with jet fuel demand up 7.4% YoY and distillate demand up 4.7% YoY.