U.S. crude oil stocks declined by 8 million bbl during the week ended Jan. 1, although demand for petroleum products also fell sharply for the period, according to updated statistics published Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EIA said in its latest Weekly Petroleum Status Report that domestic crude inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, declined 1.6% for the week to 485.5 million bbl, about 9% above the five-year average.

Conversely, total motor gasoline inventories increased 4.5 million bbl last week, while distillate fuel inventories climbed 6.4 million bbl for the week, according to the agency.

Propane/propylene stocks declined by 2.4 million bbl. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 1.7 million bbl for the period,...