US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.5% during the week ending Jan. 10, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories fell by around 2 million barrels to 412.7 million barrels, lower than the market prediction of 3.5 million barrels decline.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by approximately 500,000 barrels to 394.3 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories rose by around 5.9 million barrels to 243.6 million barrels.
- Crude production decreases
EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 77,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.93 million bpd during the week ending Jan. 10.
US crude oil imports decreased by 304,000 bpd to approximately 6.12 million bpd while exports increased by 1 million bpd to around 4.08 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Jan. 14, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.55 million bpd in 2025.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency