US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.9% in the week ending March 3, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by about 3.8 million barrels to 443.1 million barrels. Market expectations had pointed to an increase of about 1.4 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, remained unchanged at 415.4 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by around 3.7 million barrels to 249.5 million barrels.
- Crude production declines
EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 18,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.68 million bpd during the week ending March 3.
US crude oil imports increased by 98,000 bpd to approximately 6.4 million bpd, while exports decreased by around 563,000 bpd to around 3.43 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on March 11, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.6 million bpd in 2026.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr