The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday
that crude inventories declined by
5.073 million barrels in the week
ended November 29, following a drop of 1.844 million barrels in the previous
week. This was the sharpest weekly decrease in the U.S. crude inventories since late August. Economists had forecast a draw of
1.000 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks increased by 2.362 million barrels., recording the third consecutive
weekly advance. Analysts had predicted a build of 0.600 million barrels. The previous week witnessed
a jump of 3.314 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks surged by 3.383 million barrels., the most since mid-July. Analysts
had expected a raise of 2.000 million barrels. The previous week saw an advance
of 0.416 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. increased by 20,000 barrels a day to 13.513 million
barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 7.3 million barrels per day last week,
logging a gain of 1.2 million barrels per day from the week before.