US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 1.1% during the week ending July 12, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories declined by about 4.9 million barrels to 440.2 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a fall of around 900,000 barrels.
However, strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by about 700,000 barrels to 373.7 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories also rose by approximately 3.3 million barrels to 233 million barrels.
– Crude production rises
EIA data showed that US crude oil production increased by 38,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.72 million bpd during the week ending July 12.
US crude oil imports also rose by 277,000 bpd to about 7.04 million bpd, and exports fell by 35,000 bpd to approximately 3.96 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.
