The U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) informed on Wednesday that crude inventories jumped
by 1.338 million barrels in the week ended January 5, following a decline of 5.503
million barrels in the previous week. This marked the first advance in the U.S.
crude inventories in three weeks. Economists had predicted a decrease of 0.675 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks climbed by 8.029 million barrels.
Analysts had foreseen a rise of 2.489 million barrels. The previous week witnessed
a surge of 10.900 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks leapt by 6.528 million barrels. Analysts had forecast a build of 2.382 million
barrels. The previous week saw a soar of 10.090 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. was unchanged at 13.200 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.2 million barrels per day last week, logging a fall of 654,000
barrels per day from the week before.