US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.8% during the week ending June 21, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Thursday.
Inventories rose by about 3.6 million barrels to 460.7 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a fall of around 2.6 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by about 1.3 million barrels to 372.2 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories rose by approximately 2.7 million barrels to 233.9 million barrels.
– Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil production declined by 4,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 13.61 million bpd during the week ending June 21.
US crude oil imports also decreased by 443,000 bpd to about 6.61 million bpd, and exports fell by 508,000 bpd to approximately 3.91 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on June 11, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.24 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.71 million bpd.
