US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.5% during the week ending March 4, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels to 411.6 million barrels compared to the market expectation of a fall of 833,000 barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, declined by 2.5 million barrels to 577.5 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories also fell by 1.4 million barrels to 244.6 million barrels over that period.
- Crude production increases
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports increased by 552,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.32 million bpd during the week ending March 4, while crude oil exports decreased by around 1.37 million bpd to around 2.42 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, rose by 1,000 bpd to approximately 12.04 million bpd during the same period.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr