US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.1% during the week ending March 11, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Inventories rose by 4.3 million barrels to 415.9 million barrels compared to the market expectation of a fall of 1.9 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, declined by 2 million barrels to 575.5 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories also fell by 3.6 million barrels to 241 million barrels over that period.
- Crude production remains the same
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports increased by 76,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.4 million bpd during the week ending March 11, while crude oil exports rose by around 514,000 bpd to around 2.94 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, remain the same at approximately 12.04 million bpd during the same period.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr