The U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude inventories climbed
by 5.841 million barrels in the week ended April 5, following a jump of 3.210 million
barrels in the previous week. This marked the third straight weekly advance in
the U.S. crude inventories. Economists had foreseen a build of 2.366 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks advanced by 0.715 million barrels. Analysts had predicted a fall of 1.320 million barrels. The previous
week saw a plunge of 4.256 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks increased by 1.659 million barrels, recording the first
gain in three weeks, the pace of which was also the strongest since the week ended Jan
12 (+2.370 million barrels). Analysts had forecast a draw of 1.153 million
barrels. The previous week saw a decline of 1.268 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. remained unchanged at 13.100 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.4 million barrels per day last week, logging a decrease of 183,000
barrels per day from the week before.