The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that
crude inventories rose by 3.614 million barrels in the week ending February 28,
following a decrease of 2.332 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had predicted a build of 0.900 million barrels.
At the same
time, gasoline stocks declined by 1.433 million barrels. Analysts had expected a fall of 1.000 million barrels. The previous week witnessed
an increase of 0.369 million barrels.
Elsewhere,
distillate stocks plunged by 1.318 million barrels. Analysts
had anticipated a slip of 0.300 million barrels. The previous week saw a soar of
3.908 million barrels.
Meanwhile, oil
production in the U.S. inched up 6,000 barrels per day to 13.508 million
barrels per day. This marked the highest
output in eight weeks.
U.S. crude oil
imports averaged 5.8 million barrels per day last week,
logging a fall of 106,000 barrels
per day from the week before.