U.S. oil inventories increased for a third-consecutive week as demand for travel fuels remained light and as refinery activity, while increasing, held far below capacity following the blast of winter weather that froze the Texas energy grid in February.

Domestic commercial crude inventories for the week ended March 12 — excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — increased by 2.4 million bbl from the previous week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR). At 500.8 million bbl, inventories are 6% above the five-year average.

The WSPR showed that total petroleum demand increased 1% week/week but remained 12% below year-earlier levels, with jet fuel consumption down 42% year/year and gasoline off 13%. The...