US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1% during the week ending Feb. 7, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 4.1 million barrels to 427.9 million barrels, higher than the market prediction of 2.8 million barrels increase.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by 200,000 barrels to 395.1 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories fell by around 3 million barrels to 248.1 million barrels.
- Crude production increases
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by 16,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.49 million bpd during the week ending Feb. 7.
US crude oil imports decreased by 606,000 bpd to approximately 6.3 million bpd and exports declined by 422,000 bpd to around 3.9 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Feb. 11, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.6 million bpd in 2025.
By Humeyra Ayaz
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr