US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.7% in the week ending April 3, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by 3.1 million barrels to around 464.7 million barrels. Market expectations had predicted a decrease of 1 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, decreased by 1.7 million barrels to 413.3 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by 1.6 million barrels to about 239.3 million barrels.
- Crude production declines
EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 61,000 barrels per day (bpd) to approximately 13.59 million bpd during the week ending April 3.
US crude oil imports decreased by 130,000 bpd to around 6.32 million bpd, while exports increased by 628,000 barrels to about 4.15 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on April 8, the EIA predicted that US crude oil output would reach an average of 13.5 million bpd in 2026.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
