Crude oil inventories in the U.S. decreased last week while crude oil production rose to sustain record high levels, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.
EIA data showed that commercial crude oil stocks decreased by 2.7 million barrels, to 437.1 million barrels for the week ending Jan. 11 while the market expectation was a decline of 1.3 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, remained unchanged at 649.1 million barrels last week, according to the data.
Gasoline inventories increased by 7.5 million barrels to 255.6 million barrels during that period. During the previous week, gasoline inventories saw an increase of 8.1 million barrels.
-Crude production rises
The U.S.' crude oil production increased by 200 thousand barrels per day (bpd) and reached around 11.9 million bpd for the week ending Jan.11, according to the EIA.
Since the week ending Nov. 9, 2018, crude oil production in the country has consistently increased and reached historic peaks of on average 11.9 million bpd.
This marked the 42nd time crude oil production in the U.S. showed an increase over the past 53 weeks.
The U.S.' crude oil production is expected to average 12.1 million bpd in 2019, according to the EIA's Short Term Energy Outlook report for December.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr