The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) informed on Wednesday
that crude inventories declined by
3.728 million barrels in the week
ended August 2, following a fall of 3.436 million barrels in the previous week.
Overall, this marked the sixth straight weekly decrease in the U.S. crude inventories. Economists
had forecast a slip of 0.400 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks increased by 1.340 million barrels, recording the first gain
in three weeks. Analysts had forecast
a draw of 1.800 million barrels. The previous week saw a drop of 3.665 million
barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks rose by 0.949 million barrels. Analysts
had expected a build of 0.200 million barrels. The previous week witnessed a climb
of 1.534 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil production
in the U.S. advanced by 100,000 barrels a day to 13.400 million barrels per
day, the highest level on record.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.2 million barrels per day last week,
logging a fall of 729,000 barrels per day from the week before.