The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude inventories declined by 3.481 million barrels in the week ended September 17, following a tumble of 6.422 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had forecast a decrease of 2.440 million barrels.

At the same time, gasoline stocks rose by 3.475 million barrels, while analysts had expected a draw of 1.067 million barrels. Distillate stocks dropped 2.555 million barrels, while analysts had forecast a fall of 1.190 million barrels.

Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. increased 500,000 barrels a day to 10.600 million barrels a day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million barrels per day last week, increased by 0.7 million barrels per day from the previous week.