US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.5% during the week ending June 3, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Inventories rose by 2 million barrels to 416.8 million barrels, against the market expectation of a drop of 1.8 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, declined by 7.3 million barrels to 519.3 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories decreased by 800,000 barrels to 218.2 million barrels over the same period.
-Crude production declines
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decline by 64,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.15 million bpd during the week ending June 3, while crude oil exports fell by 1.76 million bpd to 2.23 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, decreased by 5,000 bpd to approximately 12.35 million bpd during the same period.
In the June Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasts that crude oil output in the US will average 11.92 million bpd in 2022, up from 11.2 million bpd in 2021.
In 2023, crude oil output in the country is forecast to reach 12.97 million bpd.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr