The U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) revealed that crude inventories tumbled by 8.647
million barrels in the week ended February 22. Economists had forecast an
increase of 3.000 million barrels.
At the same time,
gasoline stocks fell by 1.906 million barrels, while analysts had expected a
drop of 1.250 million barrels. Distillate stocks reduced by 0.304 million
barrels, while analysts had forecast a decrease of 2.000 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. increased by 100,000 barrels a day to 12.100 million
barrels a day.
U.S. crude oil imports
averaged 5.9 million barrels per day last week, down by 1,605,000 barrels per
day from the previous week.