US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.5% during the week ending June 2, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories fell by around 500,000 barrels to 459.2 million barrels, relative to the American Petroleum Institute's expectation of a fall of 1.7 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks also fell by about 1.9 million barrels to 353.6 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories, however, rose by around 2.7 million barrels to 218.8 million barrels over the same period.
- Crude production decreases
EIA data showed that US crude oil imports decreased by about 817,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.4 million bpd during the week ending June 2, while crude oil exports fell by 2.44 million bpd to about 2.47 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, increased by 212,000 bpd and stood at 12.83 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on June 6, the EIA predicted crude oil output in the country will reach an average of 12.61 million bpd this year, up from 11.89 million bpd last year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 12.77 million bpd.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr