US crude oil inventories down 0.6% for week ending Feb. 25

By Firdevs Yuksel

ISTANBUL (AA) - US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.6% during the week ending Feb. 25, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Inventories fell by 2.6 million barrels to 413.4 million barrels compared to the market expectation of a rise of 2.8 million barrels.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, declined by 2.4 million barrels to 580 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

Gasoline inventories also fell by 500,000 barrels to 246 million barrels over that period.

- Crude production decreases

According to EIA data, US crude oil imports dropped by 1.06 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.77 million bpd during the week ending Feb. 25, while crude oil exports increased by around 1.11 million bpd to around 3.8 million bpd.

US crude oil production, meanwhile, declined by 18,000 bpd to approximately 12.04 million bpd during the same period.