US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.1% during the week ending Nov. 15, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 500,000 barrels to 430.3 million barrels, higher than the market prediction of 400,000 barrels rise.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by approximately 1.4 million barrels to 389.2 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories rose by around 2.1 million barrels to 208.9 million barrels.
– Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil production decreased by 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.64 million bpd during the week ending Nov. 15.
US crude oil imports increased by 1.17 million bpd to approximately 7.68 million bpd while exports rose by 938,000 bpd to around 4.38 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Nov. 13, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.23 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.53 million bpd.
