US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 2% during the week ending Feb. 6, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 8.5 million barrels to 428.8 million barrels. Market expectations had pointed to an increase of about 700,000 barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, remained unchanged at 415.2 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories increased by around 1.2 million barrels to 259.1 million barrels.
- Crude production increased
EIA data showed that US crude oil production rose by 498,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.71 million bpd during the week ending Feb. 6.
US crude oil imports increased by 604,000 bpd to approximately 6.80 million bpd, while exports fell by around 308,000 barrels bpd to around 3.74 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Feb. 10, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.6 million bpd in 2026.
By Duygu Alhan
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
