US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.5% during the week ending May 10, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late on Wednesday.
Inventories fell by about 2.5 million barrels to 457 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a fall of around 400,000 barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by about 600,000 barrels to 367.8 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories fell by approximately 200,000 barrels to 227.8 million barrels.
– Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil production decreased by 4,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 13.51 million bpd during the week ending May 10.
US crude oil imports fell by 226,000 bpd to about 6.74 million bpd, and exports declined by 333,000 bpd to approximately 4.13 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on May 8, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.20 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.73 million bpd.
