Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States, which are not taking into account those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were down by 1.4 million barrels to 459.5 million barrels in the week ending May 3, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed in its report on Wednesday. The figure marked a slightly lower-than-expected draw. The country’s inventories now stand 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.9 million barrels per day for the corresponding week, which is 307,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 85.5% of their operable capacity last week, while gasoline production increased, averaging 9.5 million barrels per day. Imports of crude oil in the country averaged 7 million barrels per day last week, going up by 198,000 barrels per day. Total commercial petroleum inventories fell by 2.1 million barrels last week.