US crude oil stocks fall more than market expectation

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US commercial crude oil stocks decreased more than the market expectation last week, according to data released by the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

Commercial crude oil inventories in the US fell by 7.5 million barrels, or 1.4%, to 531.7 million barrels for the week ending July 10, the data showed. The market expectation was a decrease of 2.1 million barrels. Inventories increased by 5.7 million barrels during the previous week.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, increased by 0.1 million barrels to 656.1 million barrels for the week ending July 10, the data revealed.

Gasoline inventories decreased by 3.1 million barrels, or 1.3%, to 248.5 million barrels over that period. The market expectation was a decline of 643,000 barrels. The previous week saw gasoline stocks decline by 4.8 million barrels.

- Crude production falls slightly

US crude oil imports plummeted by 1.82 million barrels per day (bpd) to 5.56 million bpd for the week ending July 10, while crude oil exports increased by 156,000 bpd to 2.54 million bpd, according to the EIA data.

The data showed that US crude oil production slightly decreased by 41,000 bpd to approximately 11 million bpd for the week ending July 10. Crude oil output reached an all-time high of 13.1 million bpd for the week ending Feb. 28.

Crude production is expected to average 11.6 million bpd in 2020, according to the EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook report for July.

The country surpassed Saudi Arabia, and then Russia, in November 2018 to become the world's biggest crude oil producer.