The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories surged by 4.740 million barrels in the week ended May 17. Economists had forecast a decrease of 1.700 million barrels.

At the same time, gasoline stocks surged by 3.716 million barrels, while analysts had expected a drop of 0.850 million barrels. Distillate stocks rose by 0.768 million barrels, while analysts had forecast a decrease of 0.500 million barrels.

Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. increased by 100,000 barrels a day to 12.200 million barrels a day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.9 million barrels per day last week, down by 669,000 barrels per day from the previous week.