US crude oil inventories down 0.4% for week ending March 3

March 9, 2023

- Inventories fall by around 1.7 million to 478.5 million barrels, against American Petroleum Institute's expectation of 308,000 barrels decline

By Anadolu Agency

US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.4% during the week ending March 3, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.

Inventories fell by around 1.7 million barrels to 478.5 million barrels, against the American Petroleum Institute's expectation of a decrease of 308,000 barrels.

However, strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, stayed unchanged at 371.6 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

Gasoline inventories decreased by 1.1 million barrels to 238.1 million barrels over the same period.

- Crude production falls

EIA data showed that US crude oil imports increased by 63,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.27 million bpd during the week ending March 3, while crude oil exports fell by 2.27 million bpd to about 3.36 million bpd.

US crude oil production, meanwhile, fell by 105,000 bpd to around 12.6 million bpd over the same period.

In the March Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasted that crude oil output in the US would average 12.44 million bpd in 2023, up from 11.90 million bpd in 2022.

Crude oil output in the country in 2024 is forecast to reach 12.63 million bpd.