U.S. commercial oil inventories (excluding strategic reserves) decreased by 2.5 million barrels, or 0.6%, to 413.4 million barrels for the week ended March 18, according to a weekly review by the Energy Information Administration of the nation’s Department of Energy.
Analysts polled by DailyFX, on the contrary, expected an increase of 0.1 million barrels.
Meanwhile, the country’s strategic oil reserve declined by 4.2 million barrels, or 0.7%, to 571.3 million barrels, the ministry added. And oil inventories at the nation’s largest terminal in Cushing rose to 25.2 million barrels from 24 million barrels during the reporting period.
source: cnn.com
