The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude inventories rose by 2.108 million barrels in the week ended July 16, following a decrease of 7.897 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had forecast a draw of 4.466 million barrels.

At the same time, gasoline stocks fell by 0.121 million barrels, while analysts had expected a fall of 1.043 million barrels. Distillate stocks declined by 1.349 million barrels, while analysts had forecast an advance of 0.557 million barrels.

Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. remained unchanged at 11.400 million barrels a day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.1 million barrels per day last week, increased by 0.9 million barrels per day from the previous week.