Production of crude oil decreased by 67,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the week ending Aug. 24 to approximately 11 million bpd, the EIA data showed.
Crude oil output rose by 33,000 bpd in the state of Alaska, while it while fell by 100,000 bpd in other states, according to the data.
The decline was mainly driven by the decreasing production in the oil-rich Permian basin located in Texas and New Mexico.
The pipeline capacity to carry crude oil to other regions from Permian has reached its full capacity recently. Drillers are extracting nearly 3.3 million bpd of crude from the basis, while the pipeline capacity remains at 3.1 million bpd until new capacity is added.
This leaves oil producers with two choices -- either suspend their production in Permian, or carry their operations to other lucrative shale plays in the country.
Crude, gasoline inventories decline
Gasoline inventories were also down last week, dropping by 1.6 million barrels, or 0.7 percent, to 232.8 million barrels, according to the EIA data.
The market expectation was an increase of 0.4 million barrels. The stocks were up 1.2 million barrels in the previous week.
Commercial crude oil inventories, on the other hand, fell by 2.6 million barrels, or 0.6 percent, to 405.8 million barrels for the week ending Aug. 24, the EIA data showed.
The market expectation was a decline of 0.7 million barrels. The crude stocks had fallen by 5.8 million barrels in the previous week.
Strategic petroleum reserves (SPR), which are not included in the commercial crude stocks, remained unchanged at 660 million barrels during that period.
However, a sale from the SPR could come in October and November as President Donald Trump had earlier signaled -- an attempt to lower gasoline prices in the U.S. to maintain Republican control in the Congress after the mid-term elections in early November.
Trump had also proposed a sale of half of SPR to decrease the budget deficit. So far, the Congress has authorized the sale of 240 million barrels from SPR between 2017 and 2027 to help the budget.
Oil prices up
With the weekly decline in the U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories, crude prices in the global market showed gains.
International benchmark Brent crude climbed to $77.07 per barrel at 1432GMT on Wednesday while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose to $69.44 a barrel.
(Anadolu Agency)