WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2020) US oil production was unchanged at 11 million barrels per day for a fourth straight week last week, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday, reinforcing the notion that the sharp output reductions over the past three months due to novel coronavirus pandemic was over.
The EIA estimated a record high crude oil production of 13.1 million barrels in mid-March as the United States stood as the world's largest oil producer.
However, a plunge in demand for crude triggered by the pandemic pushed output all the way down to 10.5 million barrels per day by the week that ended on June 12 as US crude prices fell from around $50 per barrel to sub-zero levels at one point in April.
Production finally increased during the week that ended on June 19, rising by 500,000 barrels to 11 million barrels per day.
Since, the output estimated weekly by the EIA has not changed for four straight weeks.
In its weekly dataset on oil balances released on Wednesday, the EIA also indicated that demand for fuel products were increasing as it reported a 3.1-million barrel draw in gasoline and 453,000-barrel decline in diesel-dominated distillates for the week that ended on July 10. Analysts had anticipated a gasoline draw of 643,000 barrels and a distillate build of nearly 1.5 million barrels last week.
