The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday
that crude inventories fell by 6.368 million barrels in the week ended April 19, following
a rise of 2.735 million barrels in the previous week. This was the first weekly drop in the U.S. crude inventories in five
weeks. Economists had forecast
a build of 1.600 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks slipped by 0.634 million barrels.
Analysts had foreseen a decline of 1.400 million barrels. The previous week witnessed
a fall of 1.154 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks jumped by 1.614 million barrels. Analysts
had predicted a decrease of 0.900 million barrels. The previous week witnessed a
plunge of 2.760 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. remained unchanged at 13.100 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.5 million barrels per day last week, logging an increase of 36,000
barrels per day from the week before.