The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories fell by 0.745 million barrels in the week ended May 8. Economists had forecast a surge of 4.147 million barrels.
At the same time, gasoline stocks declined by 3.513 million barrels, while analysts had expected a drop of 2.216 million barrels. Distillate stocks climbed by 3.511 million barrels, while analysts had forecast an increase of 2.857 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. decreased by 300,000 barrels a day to 11.300 million barrels a day.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 5.4 million barrels per day last week, down by 321,000 barrels per day from the previous week.