The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories rose by 4.590 million barrels in the week ended May 1. Economists had forecast a surge of 8.125 million barrels.
At the same time, gasoline stocks fell by 3.158 million barrels, while analysts had expected a gain of 0.043 million barrels. Distillate stocks climbed by 9.518 million barrels, while analysts had forecast an increase of 2.900 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. decreased by 200,000 barrels a day to 11.900 million barrels a day.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 5.7 million barrels per day last week, up by 410,000 barrels per day from the previous week.