US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.6% during the week ending April 4, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by approximately 2.6 million barrels to 442.3 million barrels, higher than market expectations of a 2.2 million-barrel increase.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, also increased by 300,000 barrels to 396.7 million barrels, the data showed.
However, over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by around 1.6 million barrels to 236 million barrels.
- Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 122,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.46 million bpd during the week ending April 4.
US crude oil imports decreased by 277,000 bpd to approximately 6.2 million bpd, while exports fell by 637,000 bpd to around 3.2 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on March 11, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.61 million bpd in 2025.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr