On October 17, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The report showed that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels last week, while analysts had previously expected an increase of 2.3 million barrels. Crude oil inventory levels are now about 5% below the average for the same period over the past five years.

Gasoline inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels, far exceeding market expectations for a 1.4 million barrel drop. Meanwhile, distillate fuel inventories fell by 3.5 million barrels from the previous week.

Crude oil imports fell by 710,000 bpd to average 5.5 million bpd. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged 6.2 million b/d. The decline in crude oil imports was the main reason for this week's decrease in crude oil inventories.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased to 383.9 million barrels from 382.9 million barrels as the U.S. continues to purchase additional oil to replenish the reserve.

U.S. domestic crude oil production increased to 13.5 million barrels per day from 13.4 million barrels per day. Rising domestic production could be a potential bearish factor for the oil market.

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is near $70.80 per barrel due to the EIA report. While falling crude oil and gasoline inventories could provide support for WTI oil prices, market traders are also concerned about rising domestic production.

Brent crude oil prices continue to try to stabilize above $74.50 per barrel. It remains to be seen whether the EIA report will provide enough support to the oil market against the backdrop of demand concerns.