HOUSTON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil inventories decreased and the refining sector input less crude than the previous week's average, according to a report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.

According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report by the EIA, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, of the week ending Jan. 12 decreased by 6.9 million barrels from the previous week.

At 412.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are in the middle of the average range for this time of year.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.5 million barrels per day, up by 5.6 percent from the same period of last year.

Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged about 9.1 million barrels per day, up by 6.2 percent from the same period last year.

Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.1 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up by 16.0 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied is up 8.7 percent compared to the same four-week period last year.