US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.1% during the week ending April 18, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 200,000 barrels to 443.1 million barrels, against the market prediction of 700,000 barrels decrease.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by 500,000 to 397.5 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by around 4.5 million barrels to 229.5 million barrels.
- Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil production decreased by 2,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.46 million bpd during the week ending April 18.
US crude oil imports fell by 412,000 bpd to approximately 5.59 million bpd, while exports decreased by 1.55 million bpd to around 3.55 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on April 10, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.5 million bpd in 2025.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency