US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.6% during the week ending June 14, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Thursday.
Inventories fell by about 2.5 million barrels to 457.1 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a fall of around 2.8 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by about 400,000 barrels to 370.9 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories decreased by approximately 2.3 million barrels to 231.2 million barrels.
– Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 11,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.61 million bpd during the week ending June 14.
US crude oil imports also decreased by 1.25 million bpd to about 7.05 million bpd, while exports increased by 1.23 million bpd to approximately 4.42 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on June 11, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.24 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.71 million bpd.
