The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced on Wednesday
that crude inventories rose by 1.745 million barrels in the week ended March 14, following
an increase of 1.448 million barrels in the previous week. Overall, this marked
the third straight weekly build in U.S. crude inventories. Economists had forecast a gain of 1.100 million
barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks slipped by 0.527 million barrels, recording the 3rd
consecutive weekly drop. Analysts
had anticipated a decrease of 2.000 million barrels. The previous week witnessed
a tumble of 5.737 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks declined by 2.812 million barrels, the most since late
January. Analysts had expected
a slip of 0.100 million barrels. The previous week saw a fall of 1.559 million
barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. edged down 2,000 barrels per day to 13.573 million
barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 5.4 million barrels per day last week,
logging a fall of 85,000 barrels
per day from the week before.