U.S. crude inventories fell much more than expected last week – EIA

Investing.com — U.S. crude oil inventories fell more than three times the levels forecast for last week, data from the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, showed on Wednesday.

fell by 5.894M barrels, against expectations for a draw of 1.657M barrels, the EIA said in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report for the week ended Dec. 16. In the prior week to Dec. 9, the agency reported an inventory build of 10.231M.

The government-controlled U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 3.7M to reach 378.6M, the lowest level since December 1983.

stockpiles rose by 2.53M barrels, versus a forecast build of 2.14M barrels. In the prior week, gasoline stockpiles rose by 4.496M.

inventories fell by 0.242M barrels last week, compared with expectations for a build of 0.336M barrels. In the prior week, gasoline inventories rose by 1.364M.