US commercial crude oil inventories declined by 0.8% during the week ending July 5, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories fell by about 3.4 million barrels to 445.1 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a rise of around 700,000 barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by about 500,000 barrels to 373.1 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories fell by approximately 2 million barrels to 229.7 million barrels.
– Crude production rises
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by 101,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.68 million bpd during the week ending July 5.
US crude oil imports also rose by 214,000 bpd to about 6.76 million bpd, and exports fell by 402,000 bpd to approximately 3.99 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on July 9, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.25 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.77 million bpd.
