US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.2% during the week ending April 22, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Inventories rose by 700,000 barrels to 414.4 million barrels, against the market expectation of an increase of 2.16 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, declined by 2.9 million barrels to 553.1 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories also decreased by 1.6 million barrels to 230.8 million barrels over the same period.
- Crude production rises
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports rose by 98,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.93 million bpd during the week ending April 22, while crude oil exports fell by 549,000 bpd to 3.72 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, increased by 19,000 bpd to approximately 12.34 million bpd during the same period.
In the April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasts that crude oil output in the US will average 12 million bpd in 2022, up from 11.2 million bpd in 2021.
In 2023, crude oil output in the country is forecast to reach its highest annual average on record at 13 million bpd.
By Zeynep Beyza Kilic
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr