The U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories
rose by 1.580 million barrels in the week ended August 9. Economists had
forecast a fall of 2.500 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks fell by 1.412 million barrels, while analysts had
expected a gain of 0.615 million barrels. Distillate stocks decreased by 1. 934
million barrels, while analysts had forecast a surge of 0.874 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. was unchanged at 12.300 million barrels a day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 7.7 million barrels per day last week, up by 566,000 barrels
per day from the previous week.