US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.3% during the week ending July 7, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 5.9 million barrels to 458.1 million barrels, relative to the American Petroleum Institute’s expectation of a rise of 3 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, declined by about 400,000 barrels to 346.8 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 219.5 million barrels over the same period.
– Crude production falls
EIA data showed that US crude oil imports fell by about 1.15 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.88 million bpd during the week ending July 7, while crude oil exports fell by around 1.75 million bpd to about 2.14 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, declined by 113,000 bpd and stood at 12.71 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on July 12, the EIA predicted crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 12.56 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 12.85 million bpd.
