The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced a decline in US crude inventories for the fifth week in a row, falling by 3.1 million barrels to 455.9 million barrels during last week, while analysts expected a decline by about 2.7 million barrels.
By contrast, gasoline inventories rose by 3.6 million barrels to 232.8 million barrels, while distillate stocks jumped by 5.7 million barrels to 136.2 million barrels.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced yesterday in unofficial data that crude stocks in the country fell by 1.4 million barrels during last week.