Crude oil production in the U.S. has hit a new record high level last week, according to data released by the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.
The world's largest crude oil producer saw its crude output rising by 89,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a new all-time record of 12 million bpd for the week ending Feb. 15, the EIA data showed.
The U.S.' crude output had increased to record high levels of 11.7 million bpd for the week ending Nov. 9, and to 11.9 million bpd for the week ending Jan. 11.
Last week, crude production in the state of Alaska declined by 11,000 bpd, while it rose by 100,000 bpd in other U.S. states excluding Hawaii, according to the data.
This also marked the 44th time crude oil production in the U.S. increased during the past 58 weeks.
The U.S.' crude oil production is expected to average 12.4 million bpd in 2019 and 13.2 million bpd in 2020, according to the EIA's Short Term Energy Outlook report for February.
-Crude stocks rise
Commercial crude oil stocks in the U.S. increased by 3.7 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, to 454.5 million barrels for the week ending Feb. 15, the EIA said. The market expectation was an increase of 3.1 million barrels. Stocks rose by 3.6 million barrels during the previous week.
Strategic petroleum reserves, which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, remained unchanged at 649.1 million barrels last week, according to the data.
Gasoline inventories, on the other hand, decreased by 1.5 million barrels, or 0.6 percent, to 256.8 million barrels during that period, more than the market expectation of a fall of 350,000 barrels. During the previous week, gasoline inventories saw a decline of 408,000 barrels.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr