U.S. commercial crude oil inventories declined modestly in mid-December, with stocks down -1.3M bbl (vs  -1.1M bbls expected) WoW and about 4% below the five-year average, reflecting steady refinery demand amid mixed product balances.

• Refinery inputs averaged 17.0M bpd, up +129k bpd WoW, with utilization rising to 94.8%, indicating strong seasonal refinery operations.

• Gasoline production increased to 9.6M bpd, while distillate fuel production fell -228k bpd WoW to 5.2M bpd, showing a pullback in middle-distillate output.

• Crude oil imports averaged 6.5M bpd, down -64k bpd WoW; the four-week average of 6.4M bpd was -1.8% YoY, pointing to slightly softer import flows than last year.

• Motor gasoline imports averaged 834k bpd and distillate imports 268k bpd, indicating steady product inflows alongside domestic production.

• Total motor gasoline inventories rose +4.8M bbl WoW and remained slightly below the five-year average; finished gasoline stocks fell while blending components increased.

• Distillate fuel inventories increased +1.7M bbl WoW but stayed roughly 6% below the five-year average, signaling continued relative tightness.

• Propane and propylene inventories declined -1.8M bbl but remained about 17% above the five-year average, indicating ample supply.

• Total products supplied averaged 20.5M bpd over the past four weeks (+0.8% YoY), while gasoline demand was -1.1% YoY, distillate demand -2.2% YoY, and jet fuel demand -2.1% YoY, reflecting softer year-over-year consumption across major fuels.