Crude oil inventories and production declined in the U.S. last week, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Commercial crude oil stocks decreased by 12.8 million barrels, or 2.7%, to 469.6 million barrels for the week ending June 21, the EIA data showed. The market expectation was a decline of 2.8 million barrels. Stocks fell by 3.1 million barrels during the previous week.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, remained unchanged at 644.8 million barrels last week, according to the data.
Gasoline inventories declined by 1 million barrels, or 0.4%, to 232.2 million barrels during that period, against the market expectation of a decrease of 1.1 million barrels. During the previous week, gasoline inventories saw a drop of 1.7 million barrels.
- Crude production falls
The U.S.' crude oil production also decreased by 92,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 12.1 million bpd for the week ending June 21, the EIA data showed.
Last week, an 8,000 bpd rise in crude production was seen in the state of Alaska, while other U.S. states excluding Hawaii posted an output fall of 100,000 bpd.
This also marked the third consecutive week that crude oil production in the U.S. posted a decline from the record high level of 12.4 million bpd that was seen on May 31, according to the EIA data.
Production is expected to average 12.32 million bpd in 2019 and 13.26 million bpd in 2020, according to the EIA's Short Term Energy Outlook report for June.
By Zeynep Beyza Kilic
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr