US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.1% during the week ending April 7, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 600,000 barrels to 470.5 million barrels, against the American Petroleum Institute's expectation of a draw of 1.3 million barrels.
However, strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks fell by about 1.6 million barrels to 369.6 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories decreased by around 300,000 barrels to 222.2 million barrels over the same period.
- Crude production increases
EIA data showed that US crude oil imports decreased by 951,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.19 million bpd during the week ending April 7, while crude oil exports fell by 2.75 million bpd to about 2.72 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, rose by 107,000 bpd 12.74 million bpd over the same period.
In the April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasted that crude oil output in the US would average 12.54 million bpd in 2023, up from 11.90 million bpd in 2022.
Crude oil output in the country in 2024 is forecast to reach 12.75 million bpd.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr