US crude oil inventories up 2.3% for week ending April 8

By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu

ANKARA (AA) - US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 2.3% during the week ending April 8, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

Inventories rose by 9.4 million barrels to 421.8 million barrels, more than the market expectation for a rise of 1.4 million barrels.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks, declined by 3.9 million barrels to 560.7 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

Gasoline inventories also fell by 3.6 million barrels to 233.1 million barrels over the same period.

- Crude production falls

According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decreased by 305,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 5.99 million bpd during the week ending April 8, while crude oil exports declined by approximately 1.5 million bpd to 2.2 million bpd.

US crude oil production, meanwhile, fell by 5,000 bpd to approximately 12.24 million bpd during the same period.

In the April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasts that crude oil output in the US will average 12 million bpd in 2022, up from 11.2 million bpd in 2021.

In 2023, crude oil output in the country is forecast to reach its highest annual average on record at 13 million bpd.

The previous annual average record of 12.3 million bpd was set in 2019.