US crude oil stocks rise more than market expectation

By Ovunc Kutlu

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

Commercial crude oil inventories in the US rose by 1.4 million barrels, or 0.3%, to 540.7 million barrels for the week ending June 19, the data showed. The market expectation was an increase of 0.3 million barrels. Inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels during the previous week.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, increased by 2 million barrels, or 0.3%, to 653.7 million barrels for the week ending June 19, the data revealed.

Gasoline inventories, on the other hand, declined by 1.7 million barrels, or 0.7%, to 255.3 million barrels over that period, much more than the market expectation of a decrease of 1.3 million barrels. The previous week saw gasoline stocks fall by nearly 1.7 million barrels.

- Crude oil production up

US crude oil imports fell by 102,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 6.54 million bpd for the week ending June 19, while crude oil exports increased by 695,000 bpd to 3.15 million bpd, according to the EIA data.

The data showed that US crude oil production increased by 501,000 bpd to approximately 11 million bpd for the week ending June 19. Crude oil output reached an all-time high of 13.1 million bpd for the week ending Feb. 28.

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

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