US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.4% in the week ending March 13, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by about 6.2 million barrels to 449.3 million barrels. Market expectations had pointed to a decrease of about 600,000 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 5.4 million barrels to 244 million barrels.
- Crude production declines
EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.66 million bpd during the week ending March 13.
US crude oil imports increased by 772,000 bpd to approximately 7.19 million bpd, while exports increased by around 1.46 million barrels to around 4.89 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 Humeyra Ayaz
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr