The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude inventories rose by 3.626 million barrels in the week ended July 30, following a decline of 4.089 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had forecast a draw of 3.102 million barrels.

At the same time, gasoline stocks dropped by 5.292 million barrels, while analysts had expected a fall of 1.780 million barrels. Distillate stocks grew by 0.833 million barrels, while analysts had forecast a draw of 0.543 million barrels.

Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. remained unchanged at 11.200 million barrels a day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.4 million barrels per day last week, down by 75,000 barrels per day from the previous week.