U.S. commercial crude oil inventories declined in the week ended June 9, but gasoline reserves increased, the Energy Department reported Wednesday.

The country's commercial crude oil supplies fell by 900,000 barrels to 345.7 million barrels last week, well above the upper end of the average range for this time of year, according to the department's weekly inventories report.

The report showed that gasoline reserves, which are closely watched as Americans take to the roads for summer holidays, rose by 2.8 million barrels last week to 213.1 million.

Stockpiles of distillates, including diesel and heating oil, were also up by 2.1 million barrels to 122.8 million last week.

The report also showed that U.S. refineries operated at 92.7 percent capacity last week, up from 91 percent in the prior week.

The figures for commercial crude oil inventories do not include the U.S. Strategic Reserve, which currently holds crude oil of about 700 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua