The U.S.' crude oil stocks and production decreased during the week ending Dec. 7, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Commercial crude oil inventories declined by 1.2 million barrels, or 0.3 percent, to 442 million barrels last week. However, the market expectation for crude stocks was a decline of 3 million barrels, having fallen by 7.3 million barrels during the previous week.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, were unchanged at 649.6 million barrels for the week ending Dec. 7, the data showed.
On the other hand, gasoline inventories increased by 2.1 million barrels, or 0.9 percent, to 228.3 million barrels during that period compared to the market expectation of an increase of 2.5 million barrels. The week before saw a rise of 1.7 million barrels.
- Crude production falls
The U.S.' crude oil production decreased by 108,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 11.6 million bpd for the week ending Dec. 7, according to the EIA data.
Crude oil production in the country had seen record high levels reaching 11.7 million bpd since the week ending Nov. 9.
While production fell by 8,000 bpd in the state of Alaska, it declined by a total of 100,000 bpd in other U.S. states excluding Hawaii.
This marked the 10th time crude oil production in the U.S. showed a decline in the past 48 weeks.
The U.S.' crude oil production is expected to average 12.1 million bpd in 2019, according to the EIA's Short Term Energy Outlook report for December.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr