The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that
crude inventories decreased by 3.859 million barrels in the week ended July 11, following a
jump of 7.070 million
barrels in the previous week. This marked the first
weekly draw in three weeks. Economists had anticipated a drop of 0.900 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks climbed by 3.399 million barrels. The previous week saw a decline of 2.658 million
barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks surged by 4.173 million barrels, recording the first increase in four weeks, the pace of
which was also the strongest since late May. The previous week witnessed a fall of 0.825 million
barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. fell 10,000 barrels per day to 13.375 million barrels
per day.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 6.4 million barrels per day last week,
logging a gain of 366,000 barrels per day from the week before.