The
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude
inventories fell by 4.089 million barrels in the week ended July 23, following
a build of 2.108 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had forecast
a draw of 2.928 million barrels.
At
the same time, gasoline stocks declined by 2.253 million barrels, while
analysts had expected a fall of 0.916 million barrels. Distillate stocks dropped
by 3.088 million barrels, while analysts had forecast a decrease of 0.435 million
barrels.
Meanwhile,
oil production in the U.S. reduced by 200,000 barrels a day to 11,200 million
barrels a day.
U.S.
crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million barrels per day last week, decreased by
0.6 million barrels per day from the previous week.