US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.6% during the week ending May 23, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Thursday.
Inventories fell by around 2.8 million barrels to 440.4 million barrels, against the market prediction of 1 million barrels increase.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased 800,000 barrels reaching to 401.3 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by around 2.4 million barrels to 223.1 million barrels.
- Crude production increases
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by 9,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.4 million bpd during the week ending May 23.
US crude oil imports rose by 262,000 bpd to approximately 6.35 million bpd, while exports increased by 794,000 bpd to around 4.3 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on May 7, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.4 million bpd in 2025.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency