Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 4.4 million bbl during the week ending Jan. 15 amid an uptick in net imports, according to data published Friday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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Crude inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased to 486.6 million bbl for the period, about 9% above the five-year average, the agency said in its latest Weekly Petroleum Status Report, released two days later than usual following the federal holiday for Wednesday’s presidential inauguration.

Total motor gasoline inventories fell 0.3 million bbl and ended the report week about 3% below the five-year average. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.5 million bbl to about 8% above the five-year average, while propane/propylene...