The U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories
fell by 1.632 million barrels in the week ended August 14. Economists had
forecast a decrease of 2.670 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks dropped by 3.322 million barrels, while analysts had
expected a decline of 1.057 million barrels. Distillate stocks increased by 0.152
million barrels, while analysts had forecast a drop of 0.557 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. remained unchanged at 10.700 million barrels a day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 5.7 million barrels per day last week, up by 109,000 barrels
per day from the previous week.