US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.6% during the week ending April 25, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories fell by around 2.7 million barrels to 440.4 million barrels, against the market prediction of 390,000 barrels increase.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by 1.1 million to 398.5 million barrels, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by around 4 million barrels to 225.5 million barrels.
– Crude production rises
EIA data showed that US crude oil production rose by 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.46 million bpd during the week ending April 25.
US crude oil imports fell by 90,000 bpd to approximately 5.50 million bpd, while exports increased by 572,000 bpd to around 4.12 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.
