The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday
that crude inventories rose by 2.553 million barrels in the week ended April 4, following a
jump of 6.165 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had forecast a gain of 2.200 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks dropped by 1.600 million barrels., recording the sixth
consecutive weekly draw. Analysts
had expected a decrease of 1.700 million barrels. The previous week saw a fall of
1.551 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks plunged by 3.544 million barrels, the most since late
January. Analysts had predicted a decline of 0.200
million barrels. The previous week witnessed a rise of 0.264 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. fell by 122,000 barrels per day to 13.458 million
barrels per day. This was the lowest output since
the week ended January 24 (13.240million).
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.2 million barrels per day last week,
logging a reduction of 277,000 barrels per day from the week before.