The U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories tumbled
by 10.853 million barrels in the week ended July 19. Economists had forecast a
fall of 4.261 million barrels.
At the same time,
gasoline stocks decreased by 0.226 million barrels, while analysts had expected
a drop of 1.421 million barrels. Distillate stocks rose by 0.613 million
barrels, while analysts had forecast an increase of 0.895 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. decreased by 700,000 barrels a day to 11.300 million
barrels a day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 7.0 million barrels per day last week, up by 196,000 barrels
per day from the previous week.