US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.6% during the week ending Aug. 22, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories fell by around 2.4 million barrels to 418.3 million barrels, above the forecasted fall of 1.7 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by 800,000 barrels to 404.2 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by approximately 1.2 million barrels to 222.3 million barrels.
- Crude production rises
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by 57,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.44 million bpd during the week ending Aug. 22.
US crude oil imports fell by 263,000 bpd to approximately 6.23 million bpd, while exports declined by 562,000 bpd to around 3.81 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on August 12, the EIA projected that crude oil output in the country would average 13.41 million bpd in 2025.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr