US crude oil inventories fell unexpectedly by 500,000 barrels in the week ended October 25, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Oil inventories stood at 425.5 million barrels in the US, and were about 4% below the five year average for this time of the year.
Analysts had expected crude stocks in the US to rise by 1.5 million barrels last week.
Meanwhile, refineries operated at 89.1% in the week ended October 25, the EIA said in its weekly report.
The unexpected fall in stockpiles in the US also supported global oil prices.
At the time of writing, the West Texas Intermediate crude oil was 2% higher at $70.59 per barrel, while Brent was at $74.08 per barrel, up 1.7% from the previous close.
Product stocks fall
Gasoline stocks in the US fell by 2.7 million barrels to 210.9 million barrels last week, according to the data.
Additionally, distillate stockpiles also fell by 1 million barrels to 112.9 million barrels.
Gasoline and distillate inventories in the country were 3% and 9% below the five-year average, EIA said.
Stocks of residual fuel oil fell by 1 million barrels to 24.2 million barrels, while those of propane and propylene declined by 200,000 barrels to 101.5 million barrels last week.
Production
Crude oil production in the US was at 13.5 million barrels per day in the week ended October 25, unchanged from the previous week.
Meanwhile, production of crude oil rose 1.5% in August to a monthly record of 13.4 million barrels per day, the agency said in a monthly report. This topped the previous high of 13.31 million barrels per day, touched in December 2023.
In top oil-producing states, output in Texas rose 1.7% in August to a record 5.82 million barrels per day, while New Mexico’s output increased 2.8% to a record 2.09 million barrels per day.
Imports and exports
Crude oil imports by the US fell 456,000 barrels per day to 5.98 million barrels per day last week.
The four-week average for imports stood at 6.04 million barrels a day as of last week, down 2.2% from the corresponding period a year ago.
Exports by the US rose by 149,000 barrels per day last week to clock 4.26 million barrels a day, the data showed.
The four-week average for exports as of last week was 10% lower on a year-on-year basis at 4.07 million barrels per day.
Imports from Mexico rose the most by 363,000 barrels per day to 621,000 barrels per day last week.
Meanwhile, imports of crude oil from Colombia fell the most by 215,000 barrels per day to 150,000 barrels per day last week.
Stocks of crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI crude rose by 700,000 barrels to 25.4 million barrels last week.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the US rose 1.2 million barrels to 385.8 million barrels as of October 25.
The US government had recently expressed interest to buy up to 3 million barrels of crude oil from the market to fill up its strategic reserves.
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