In a recent update from the Energy Information Administration, it was revealed that U.S. crude inventories exceeded expectations, while gasoline and distillate stocks decreased for the week ending March 14. Crude stocks climbed by 1.7 million barrels to reach 437 million barrels, contrary to analysts' predictions of a 512,000-barrel increase. However, Cushing, Oklahoma saw a decrease of 1 million barrels in crude stocks, and refinery crude runs decreased by 45,000 barrels per day.

Additionally, refinery utilization rates experienced a slight increase of 0.4 percentage points during the week. Gasoline stocks in the U.S. dropped by approximately 530,000 barrels to 240.6 million barrels, deviating from the anticipated draw of 2.2 million barrels according to the Reuters poll. Distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased by 2.8 million barrels to 114.8 million barrels, as opposed to the anticipated drop of 300,000 barrels.

The EIA reported a decrease in net U.S. crude imports by 1.44 million barrels per day to round out the updated statistics.