US commercial crude oil inventories rose 1.4% during the week ending Oct. 8, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Inventories increased by 6.1 million barrels to 427 million barrels and higher than the market expectation of a 140,000-barrel rise.
However, strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks decreased by 800,000 barrels to 617 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories also declined by 2 million barrels to 223.1 million barrels over that period.
- Crude production rises
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decreased by 1.04 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.99 million bpd during the week ending Oct. 8, while crude oil exports rose by 400,000 bpd to around 2.51 million bpd.
The data showed that US crude oil production also increased by 104,000 bpd to approximately 11.85 million bpd during the same period.
The EIA forecasts that US crude output is estimated at 11.7 million bpd for 2022, up from 11 million bpd in 2021.
In November 2018, the US first surpassed Saudi Arabia and then Russia to become the world's largest crude oil producer.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr