US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.4% during the week ending May 17, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by about 1.8 million barrels to 458.8 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a fall of around 2.4 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, also increased by about 1 million barrels to 368.8 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories fell by approximately 900,000 barrels to 226.8 million barrels.
- Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil production decreased by 1,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.52 million bpd during the week ending May 17.
US crude oil imports also fell by 81,000 bpd to about 6.66 million bpd, and exports declined by 595,000 bpd to approximately 4.73 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on May 8, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.20 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.73 million bpd.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr