US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.5% during the week ending Oct. 11, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Thursday.
Inventories fell by around 2.2 million barrels to 420.5 million barrels, against market prediction of a 1.8 million barrels rise.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by approximately 1 million barrels to 383.9 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by around 2.2 million barrels to 212.7 million barrels.
– Crude production rises
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by about 99,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 13.93 million bpd during the week ending Oct. 11.
US crude oil imports fell by 710,000 bpd to approximately 5.53 million bpd and exports rose by 329,000 bpd to around 4.12 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Oct. 9, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.22 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.54 million bpd.
