US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.3% for the week ending May 21, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Inventories fell by 1.7 million barrels to 484.3 million barrels, higher than the market expectation of a 1.3 million-barrel drop.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, fell by 1.6 million barrels to 628.5 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories also decreased by 1.7 million barrels to 232.5 million barrels over that period.
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports fell by 138,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.27 million bpd for the week ending May 21, while crude oil exports increased by 127,000 bpd to around 3.43 million bpd.
The data showed that US crude oil production decreased by 8,000 bpd to approximately 11.45 million bpd during the same period.
The EIA forecasts that US crude output is estimated at 11.2 million bpd for 2021, down from 11.3 million bpd in 2020.
In November 2018, the US first surpassed Saudi Arabia and then Russia to become the world's largest crude oil producer.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr