US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.7% in the week ending July 3, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 3 million barrels to 411.4 million barrels, whereas market expectations had forecast a decrease of around 1.9 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, also fell by about 6.2 million barrels to 319.5 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by approximately 1.9 million barrels to 212.1 million barrels.
- Crude production increases
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.86 million bpd during the week ending July 3.
US crude oil imports increased by 351,000 bpd to around 5.62 million bpd, and exports fell by 746,000 bpd to about 3.26 million bpd over the same period.
In its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on July 7, the EIA forecasted that US crude oil output would average 13.78 million bpd in 2026.
By Handan Kazanci
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
