US commercial crude oil inventories fell by 1.3% in the week ending April 24, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on late Wednesday.
Inventories declined by 6.2 million barrels to around 459.5 million barrels, while market expectations had pointed to a decrease of 300,000 barrels.
According to the EIA, a surge in US crude exports amid supply disruptions linked to the Iran conflict helped drive a sharp draw in inventories, briefly pushing the country to become a net crude exporter on a weekly basis for the first time in decades.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, fell by 7.1 million barrels to 397.9 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories dropped by 6.1 million barrels to about 222.3 million barrels.
- Crude production increases
EIA data showed that US crude oil production rose by 1,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.58 million bpd during the week ending April 24.
US crude oil imports decreased by 329,000 bpd to around 5.75 million bpd, while exports rose by 1.64 million bpd to about 6.43 million bpd over the same period.
In its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on April 8, the EIA forecast that US crude oil output would average 13.5 million bpd in 2026.
By Handan Kazanci
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
