The U.S.' crude oil inventories declined last week against market expectations of an increase, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Commercial crude oil stocks decreased by 1.7 million barrels, or 0.4%, to 433.2 million barrels for the week ending Oct. 18, the EIA data showed. The market expectation was an increase of 2.2 million barrels. Stocks rose by 9.3 million barrels over the previous week.
This also ended the streak of a five consecutive weekly increase in commercial crude oil inventories.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, also fell by 1 million barrels, or 0.2%, to 642.4 million barrels last week, according to the data.
Gasoline inventories decreased by 3.1 million barrels, or 1.4%, to 223.1 million barrels during that period, more than the market expectation of a decline of 2.2 million barrels. During the previous week, gasoline inventories fell by 2.6 million barrels.
-Crude output at record high level
The U.S.' crude oil production remained unchanged at record high level of 12.6 million barrels per day (bpd) for the week ending Oct. 18, the EIA data showed.
Crude oil production in the U.S. is expected to average 12.3 million bpd in 2019 and 13.2 million bpd in 2020, according to the EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook report for October.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr