US commercial crude oil inventories decreased 0.1% during the week ending Oct. 15, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Inventories fell by 400,000 barrels to 426.5 million barrels against the market expectation of a 2.2 million-barrel rise.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks also declined by 1.7 million barrels to 615.3 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories decreased by 5.4 million barrels to 217.7 million barrels over that period.
- Crude production falls
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decreased by 169,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.83 million bpd during the week ending Oct. 15, while crude oil exports rose by 546,000 bpd to around 3.06 million bpd.
The data showed that US crude oil production also fell by 122,000 bpd to approximately 11.73 million bpd during the same period.
The EIA forecasts that US crude output is estimated at 11.7 million bpd for 2022, up from 11 million bpd in 2021.
In November 2018, the US first surpassed Saudi Arabia and then Russia to become the world's largest crude oil producer.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr