The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) informed on Wednesday that crude inventories fell by 1.361 million barrels in the week ended May 3, following a rise of 7.265 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had predicted a drop of 1.3 million barrels. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.9 million barrels per day, which is 307,000 barrels per day more than the previous week's average.
At the same time, gasoline stocks rose by 0.915 million barrels, recording the second increase in a row. The previous week saw an increase of 0.344 million barrels. Elsewhere, distillate stocks rose by 0.56 million barrels. The previous week saw a reduction of 0.732 million barrels.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.0 million barrels per day last week, increased by 198 thousand barrels per day from the previous week.