_: US commercial crude oil inventories rose by 0.7% during the week ending March 29, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Inventories increased by around 3.2 million barrels to 451.4 million barrels, compared to the market prediction of a decrease of around 300,000 barrels.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, also increased by about 600,000 barrels to 363.6 million barrels last week, the data revealed.
However, gasoline inventories fell by approximately 4.3 million barrels to 227.8 million barrels over the same period.
– Crude production unchanged
EIA data showed that US crude oil production was unchanged at 13.53 million barrels per day (bpd) during the week ending March 29.
US crude oil imports decreased by 85,000 bpd to about 6.62 million bpd, while crude oil exports fell by 159,000 bpd to approximately 4.02 million bpd over the same period.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on March 12, the
EIA predicted that crude oil output in the country would reach an average of 13.19 million bpd this year.
Next year, crude oil output in the country is expected to reach 13.65 million bpd.
Source: Anadolu Agency