US commercial crude oil inventories declined by 0.9% during the week ending May 24, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Thursday.
Inventories fell by about 4.2 million barrels to 454.7 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a fall of around 1.6 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by about 500,000 barrels to 369.3 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories also rose by approximately 2 million barrels to 228.8 million barrels.
– Crude production rises
EIA data showed that US crude oil production rose by 6,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.52 million bpd during the week ending May 24.
US crude oil imports also rose by 106,000 bpd to about 6.76 million bpd, while exports declined by 505,000 bpd to approximately 4.22 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.
