US commercial crude oil inventories decreased 1.1% during the week ending July 22, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Inventories fell by around 4.5 million barrels to 422.1 million barrels, against the market expectation of a fall of 4.03 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, also declined by 5.6 million barrels to 474.5 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels to 225.1 million barrels over the same period.
-Crude production rises
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decreased by 355,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.16 million bpd during the week ending July 22, while crude oil exports increased by 789,000 bpd to 4.54 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, increased by 198,000 bpd to approximately 12.53 million bpd over the same period.
In the July Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasts that crude oil output in the US will average 11.9 million bpd in 2022, up from 11.2 million bpd in 2021.
In 2023, crude oil output in the country is forecast to reach 12.77 million bpd.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr