The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday
that crude inventories tumbled by 4.870 million barrels in the week ended July 12, following a
drop of 3.444 million barrels in the previous week. Overall, this was the third
straight weekly decrease in the U.S. crude inventories in three weeks. Economists
had expected a gain of 0.800 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks increased by 3.328 million barrels, the most since the week ended January 19 (+4.91 million
barrels). Analysts had predicted a drop of 1.700 million barrels. The previous week
witnessed a fall of 2.006 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks climbed by 3.454 million barrels. Analysts
had forecast a draw of 0.500 million barrels. The previous week saw a jump of 4.884 million
barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. remained unchanged at 13.300 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 7.0 million barrels per day last week,
logging a rise of 277,000 barrels
per day from the week before.