US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.8% during the week ending Jan. 24, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.
Inventories rose by around 3.5 million barrels to 415.1 million barrels, higher than the market prediction of 2.9 million barrels increase.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, increased by 200,000 barrels to 394.8 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories rose by around 3 million barrels to 248.9 million barrels.
– Crude production decreases
EIA data showed that US crude oil production fell by 237,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 13.24 million bpd during the week ending Jan. 24.
US crude oil imports decreased by 297,000 bpd to approximately 6.44 million bpd while exports fell by 829,000 bpd to around 3.68 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Jan. 14, the EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.55 million bpd in 2025.
