The US' commercial crude oil stocks last week posted their second weekly decline since January, according to data released by the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Commercial crude oil inventories in the US decreased by 5 million barrels, or 0.9%, to 526.5 million barrels for the week ending May 15, the data showed. The market expectation was a rise of 1.15 million barrels. Inventories rose by 700,000 barrels during the previous week.
After 15 consecutive weeks of increases, last week marked the second weekly fall in commercial stocks since they last recorded a downfall for the week ending Jan. 17, according to the EIA's data.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, increased by 1.9 million barrels, or 0.3%, to 641.6 million barrels for the week ending May 15, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories also registered a rise of 2.8 million barrels, or 1.1%, to 255.7 million barrels over that period, despite the market expectation of a decline of 2.1 million barrels. The previous week saw gasoline stocks drop by 3.5 million barrels.
- Crude oil production down
The US' crude oil imports decreased by 194,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 5.2 million bpd for the week ending May 15, while crude oil exports declined by 286,000 bpd to 3.2 million bpd, according to the EIA data.
The data showed that US crude oil production decreased by 115,000 bpd to approximately 11.5 million bpd for the week ending May 15. The US' crude oil output reached an all-time high of 13.1 million bpd for the week ending Feb. 28.
Crude oil production is expected to average 11.7 million bpd in 2020, according to the EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook report for May.
The country surpassed Saudi Arabia, and then Russia, in November 2018 to become the world's biggest crude oil producer.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
US crude oil stocks post second decline since January
- Commercial crude oil inventories fall for second time after 15 consecutive weeks of increases
