The U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude inventories rose
by 2.735 million barrels in the week ended April 12, following a climb of 5.841
million barrels in the previous week. This marked the fourth straight weekly build
in the U.S. crude inventories. Economists had predicted a gain of 1.600 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks fell by 1.154 million barrels. The previous week saw an advance of 0.715 million
barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks declined by 2.760 million barrels. The previous week saw an increase of 1.659
million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. was unchanged at 13.100 million barrels per day.,
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.5 million barrels per day last week, logging a rise of 27,000
barrels per day from the week before.