US commercial crude oil inventories fell by 1.1% during the week ending Aug. 16, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories declined by about 4.6 million barrels to 426 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a fall of around 2 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by about 600,000 barrels to 377.2 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories fell by approximately 1.6 million barrels to 220.6 million barrels.
- Crude production rises
EIA data showed that US crude oil production rose by 123,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.81 million bpd during the week ending Aug. 16.
US crude oil imports increased by 366,000 bpd to about 6.65 million bpd, and exports rose by 289,000 bpd to 4.04 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Aug. 6, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.23 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.69 million bpd.
By Zeynep Beyza Kilic
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr