US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 2.1% during the week ending Jan. 31, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 8.7 million barrels to 423.8 million barrels, higher than the market prediction of 5.02 million barrels increase.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by 300,000 barrels to 395.1 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories rose by around 2.2 million barrels to 251.1 million barrels.
- Crude production increases
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by 238,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.48 million bpd during the week ending Jan. 31.
US crude oil imports increased by 467,000 bpd to approximately 6.91 million bpd, while exports increased by 645,000 bpd to around 4.33 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Jan. 14, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.55 million bpd in 2025.
By Humeyra Ayaz
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr