HOUSTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil refinery inputs decreased during the week ending Jan. 4, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

According to EIA, U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 17.6 million barrels per day last week, 194,000 barrels per day less than the previous week's average. Refineries operated at 96.1 percent of their operable capacity.

U.S. gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.4 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased for the same period, averaging 5.6 million barrels per day.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.5 million barrels per day, down by 0.7 percent from the same period last year.

Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.0 million barrels per day, down by 1.2 percent from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.8 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, down by 1.3 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 10.2 percent compared with the same four-week period last year.

Meanwhile, the national price for regular gas on Wednesday averaged about 2.23 U.S. dollars per gallon, compared with 2.25 dollars per gallon a week ago, 2.42 dollars per gallon a month ago and 2.49 dollars per gallon a year ago, according to data by the American Automobile Association (AAA), which is a privately held non-profit national member association and service organization in the United States and Canada.