The following is the unedited transcript of the news release from the Depart of Energy.

Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending September 2, 2005

With Hurricane Katrina knocking out a lot of refinery capacity, U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged just 14.6 million barrels per day during the week ending September 2, down over 1.6 million barrels per day from the previous week's average.

Refineries operated at 86.8 percent of their operable capacity last week (capacity temporarily lost is not subtracted from operable capacity).

Gasoline production fell sharply, averaging nearly 8.1 million barrels per day, while distillate fuel production also declined, averaging 3.8 million barrels per day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged over 9.5 million barrels per day last week, down 932,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged over 10.2 million barrels per day, a decrease of 214,000 barrels per day from the comparable four weeks last year.

Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 862,000 barrels per day, while distillate fuel imports averaged 280,000 barrels per day.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) fell by 6.4 million barrels from the previous week. At 315.0 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain well above the upper end of the average range for this time of year.

Total motor gasoline inventories declined by 4.3 million barrels last week, putting them below the bottom end of the average range. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 0.8 million barrels last week, and are above the upper end of the average range for this time of year.

A slight increase in high-sulfur distillate fuel (heating oil), was more than compensated by a decline in low-sulfur distillate fuel (diesel fuel) inventories. Total commercial petroleum inventories dropped by 14.9 million barrels last week, and are near the upper end of the average range for this time of year.

Total product supplied over the last four-week period has averaged over 21.3 million barrels per day, or 1.5 percent more than averaged over the same period last year. Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline demand has averaged over 9.3 million barrels per day, or 0.1 percent above the same period last year.

Distillate fuel demand has averaged 4.0 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, or 3.1 percent above the same period last year. Kerosene-type jet fuel demand is down 3.0 percent over the last four weeks compared to the same four-week period last year.

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