The
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude
inventories fell by 0.427 million barrels in the week ended May 7, following a plunge
of 7.990 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had forecast a drop
of 2.817 million barrels.
At
the same time, gasoline stocks rose 0.378 million barrels, while analysts had
expected a decrease of 0.600 million barrels. Distillate stocks dropped 1.733 million
barrels, while analysts had forecast a draw of 1.08 million barrels.
Meanwhile,
oil production in the U.S. increased by 100,000 barrels a day to 11.000 million
barrels a day.
U.S.
crude oil imports averaged 5.5 million barrels per day last week, up by 37,000
barrels per day from the previous week.