In the U.S, crude oil inventories decreased, while gasoline stocks increased last week, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.
Commercial crude oil stocks declined by 4.3 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 401.5 million barrels for the week ending Aug. 31, the EIA data showed.
While the market expectation was a decline of 1.3 million barrels for crude stocks, they decreased by 2.6 million barrels during the previous week.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude oil stocks, remained unchanged at 660 million barrels during that period.
Gasoline inventories, on the other hand, increased by 1.8 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, to $234.6 million barrels for the week ending Aug. 31, according to the EIA.
The market expectation was a decline of 0.8 million barrels for gasoline inventories, while they saw a decrease of 1.6 million barrels the previous week.
- Crude output rises for 29th time in 34 weeks
While the U.S.' crude oil imports rose by 229,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 7.71 million bpd for the week ending Aug. 31, crude oil exports fell by 271,000 bpd to 1.51 million bpd, according to the EIA data.
U.S. crude oil production increased by 84,000 bpd to 11 million bpd during that period. While crude output fell by 16,000 bpd in the state of Alaska, it rose by 100,000 bpd in other American states, the data showed.
This marked the 29th time that crude oil production increased in the country during the last 34 weeks.
- Oil prices decline
With the weekly increase in U.S.' gasoline inventories, oil prices in the global market showed losses.
International benchmark Brent crude fell to $75.87 per barrel at 1545GMT on Thursday while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased to $67.19 a barrel.
The EIA's weekly data was announced on Thursday this week, instead of the usual Wednesday, since Monday was observed as a Labor Day holiday.
By Ovunc Kutlu in New York
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr