U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by +3.5M bbl WoW (vs +2.3M bbl expected) in the week ending Feb 27, 2026, alongside higher refinery activity and mixed changes across refined fuel inventories.

• U.S. crude refinery inputs averaged 15.8M bpd (+180k bpd WoW), with refinery utilization rising to 89.2% of operable capacity, indicating slightly stronger refining activity during the week.

• Gasoline production increased to 9.3M bpd, while distillate fuel production rose +61k bpd to 4.8M bpd, showing higher output across major refined fuel categories.

• U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.3M bpd (-335k bpd WoW), although the four-week average stood at 6.6M bpd (+10.3% YoY), indicating stronger import volumes relative to the same period last year.

• Commercial crude inventories rose to 439.3M bbl (+3.5M WoW) but remained about 3% below the five-year seasonal average, suggesting stock levels are still relatively tight for this time of year.

• Total motor gasoline inventories declined -1.7M bbl WoW and remain about 4% above the five-year average, with finished gasoline inventories rising while blending component inventories decreased.

• Distillate fuel inventories increased +0.4M bbl WoW and remain roughly 3% below the five-year average, indicating still somewhat tight supplies compared with seasonal norms.

• Propane/propylene inventories rose +0.8M bbl WoW and remain 54% above the five-year average, pointing to elevated supply levels relative to historical norms.

• Total commercial petroleum inventories increased +2.9M bbl WoW, while total products supplied averaged 21.0M bpd over the past four weeks (+4.2% YoY), including gasoline at 8.5M bpd (-0.2% YoY), distillate at 4.2M bpd (+4.1% YoY), and jet fuel up +6.8% YoY.