US commercial crude oil inventories dropped 0.4% during the week ending Sept. 3, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels to 423.9 million barrels compared to the market expectation of a 3.9 million-barrel draw.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, remained unchanged at 621.3 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories also decreased by 7.2 million barrels to 220 million barrels over that period.
– Crude production declines
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decreased by 531,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.81 million bpd during the week ending Sept. 3, while crude oil exports fell by 698,000 bpd to around 2.34 million bpd.
The data showed that US crude oil production also declined by 1.49 million bpd to approximately 10.4 million bpd during the same period.
The EIA forecasts that US crude output is estimated at 11.8 million bpd for 2022, up from 11.1 million bpd in 2021.
In November 2018, the US first surpassed Saudi Arabia and then Russia to become the world’s largest crude oil producer.
Anadolu Agency