HOUSTON, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil imports increased while exports decreased during the week ending Dec. 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report released on Wednesday.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.508 million barrels per day (b/d) last week, up by 1.675 million b/d from the previous week, while crude oil exports averaged 4.339 million b/d, down by 416,000 b/d from the previous week, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.561 million b/d, up by 6.4 percent from the same four-week period last year.
During the same period, crude oil exports averaged about 4.692 million b/d, up by 13.9 percent from the same four-week period last year, according to the report.
The United States has been one of the world's important oil producers in the past years with the help of its shale oil production growth.
