US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.5% for the week ending July 16, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Inventories rose by 2.1 million barrels to 439.7 million barrels, marking the first increase after 8 weeks.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, did not change and remained at 621.3 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories, however, decreased by 100,000 barrels to 236.4 million barrels over that period.
- Crude production falls
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports increased by 875,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 7.09 million bpd for the week ending July 16, while crude oil exports decreased by 1.56 million bpd to around 2.46 million bpd.
The data showed that US crude oil production fell by 56,000 bpd to approximately 11.77 million bpd during the same period.
The EIA forecasts that US crude output is estimated at 11.1 million bpd for 2021, down from 11.24 million bpd in 2020.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr