Crude oil and gasoline inventories rose in the U.S. and crude oil production remained at a record high level last week, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.4 million barrels, or 0.3%, to 450.4 million barrels for the week ending Nov. 15, the EIA data showed. The market expectation was a rise of 1.5 million barrels. Inventories climbed by 2.2 million barrels during the previous week.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, fell by 2 million barrels, or 0.3%, to 637.5 million barrels last week, according to the data.
Gasoline inventories showed an increase of 1.8 million barrels, or 0.8%, to 220.8 million barrels during that period, more than the market expectation of an increase of 870,000 barrels. The previous week saw gasoline inventories jump by 1.9 million barrels.
- Crude output at record high
U.S.' crude oil imports rose by 222,000 barrels per day (bpd) to reach 5.97 million bpd for the week ending Nov. 15, and crude oil exports also saw increases of 394,000 bpd to 3.03 million bpd, according to the EIA data.
U.S. crude oil production decreased only slightly by 10,000 bpd to remain almost unchanged at 12.8 million bpd for the week ending Nov. 15, the EIA data showed. The 10,000 bpd decline came in the state of Alaska, while output from other U.S. states, excluding Hawaii, remained unchanged.
Crude oil production, at a record high level of 12.8 million bpd, was first reached in the week ending Nov. 8, according to the EIA data.
Crude oil production in the U.S. is expected to average 12.3 million bpd in 2019 and 13.3 million bpd in 2020, according to the EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook report for November.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr