US crude oil inventories down 1.3% for week ending Dec. 22

US commercial crude oil inventories declined by 1.3% during the week ending Dec. 29, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.

Inventories decreased by around 5.5 million barrels to 431.1 million barrels, compared to the American Petroleum Institute’s expectation of a drop of around 2.9 million barrels.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by 1.1 million barrels to 354.4 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

Gasoline inventories rose by around 10.9 barrels to 237 million barrels over the same period.

– Crude production drops

EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 102,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.6 million bpd during the week ending Dec. 29.

US crude oil imports rose by 619,000 bpd to about 6.9 million bpd and crude oil exports rose by 1.4 million bpd to approximately 5.3 million bpd over the same period.

In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Dec. 12, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 12.90 million bpd this year.

Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.11 million bpd.

• Energy Information Administration (EIA)