U.S. crude oil inventories rose last week, as refineries ran at a slower pace according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 900,000 barrels to 427.3 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 25 and were about 2% above the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Crude stocks were expected to have fallen by 200,000 barrels, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 14 million barrels a day, up by 16,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Crude oil imports fell by 179,000 barrels a day to 5.7 million barrels a day.

Refineries ran at 92.5% of capacity, down from 94% the week before. Refinery runs were forecast by surveyed analysts to have slowed by 0.6 of a percentage point.

Gasoline inventories fell by 1.7 million barrels to 204.3 million barrels and were 7% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Gasoline stocks were seen rising 300,000 barrels in the Journal survey.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 2.3 million barrels to 105.2 million barrels and were 14% below the five-year average for the time of year. Distillate inventories were forecast to have fallen by 200,000 barrels.

Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 25: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates        Refinery Use 
EIA data:           0.9          -1.7           -2.3                -1.5 
Forecast:          -0.2           0.3           -0.2                -0.6 
Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.