US crude oil inventories up 0.8% for week ending Oct. 29

By Firdevs Yuksel

ISTANBUL (AA) - US commercial crude oil inventories increased 0.8% during the week ending Oct. 29, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Inventories rose by 3.3 million barrels to 434.1 million barrels, higher than the market expectation of a 1.65 million-barrel rise.

However, strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in commercial crude stocks declined by 1.6 million barrels to 612.5 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

Gasoline inventories also decreased by 1.5 million barrels to 214.3 million barrels over that period.

- Crude production rises

According to EIA data, US crude oil imports decreased by 83,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.17 million bpd during the week ending Oct. 29, while crude oil exports rose by 138,000 bpd to around 2.93 million bpd.

The data showed that US crude oil production also increased by 192,000 bpd to approximately 11.93 million bpd during the same period.

The EIA forecasts that US crude output is estimated at 11.7 million bpd for 2022, up from 11 million bpd in 2021.

In November 2018, the US first surpassed Saudi Arabia and then Russia to become the world's largest crude oil producer.