US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 1.2% during the week ending May 27, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.
Inventories fell by 5.1 million barrels to 414.7 million barrels, against the market expectation of a drop of 1.18 million barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, also declined by 5.4 million barrels to 526.6 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
Gasoline inventories decreased by 700,000 barrels to 219 million barrels over the same period.
-Crude production rises
According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decline by 268,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.21 million bpd during the week ending May 27, while crude oil exports fell by 351,000 bpd to 3.99 million bpd.
US crude oil production, meanwhile, decreased by 10,000 bpd to approximately 12.35 million bpd during the same period.
In the May Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasts that crude oil output in the US will average 11.91 million bpd in 2022, up from 11.2 million bpd in 2021.
In 2023, crude oil output in the country is forecast to reach 12.85 million bpd.
Source: Anadolu Agency
