The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories increased by 0.785 million barrels in the week ended February 28. Economists had forecast an advance of 2.644 million barrels.
At the same time, gasoline stocks declined by 4.340 million barrels, while analysts had expected a drop of 2.095 million barrels. Distillate stocks fell by 4.008 million barrels, while analysts had forecast a decrease of 1.928 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. rose by 100,000 barrels a day to 13.1000 million barrels a day.