The
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude
inventories declined by 7.614 million barrels in the week ended June 18,
following a plunge of 7.355 million barrels in the previous week. Economists
had forecast a draw of 3.942 million barrels.
At the same time, gasoline stocks fell by 2.930 million barrels, while analysts had expected an advance of 0.833 million barrels. Distillate stocks rose by 1.754 million barrels, while analysts had forecast an increase of 1.083 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. decreased by 100,000 barrels a day to 11,100 million barrels a day.
U.S.
crude oil imports averaged 6.9 million barrels per day last week, up by 197,000
barrels per day from the previous week.