US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.3% during the week ending Jan. 28, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Inventories fell by 1 million barrels to 415.1 million barrels, against the market expectation of a 1.8 million-barrel build.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, decreased by 1.9 million barrels to 588.9 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

However, gasoline inventories increased by 2.1 million barrels to 250 million barrels over that period.

-Crude production decreases

According to EIA data, US crude oil imports increased by 849,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 7.09 million bpd during the week ending Jan. 28, while crude oil exports fell by around 420,000 bpd to 2.38 million bpd.

US crude oil production, meanwhile, decreased by 105,000 bpd to approximately 11.94 million bpd during the same period.

The EIA estimates that US crude output will reach 11.8 million bpd in 2022 and rise to 12.2 million bpd in 2023, which would be the highest annual average US crude oil production on record.

By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu

Anadolu Agency

energy@aa.com.tr