HOUSTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Both U.S. crude oil imports and exports increased during the week ending Jan. 17, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report released on Thursday.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.745 million barrels per day (b/d) last week, up by 621,000 b/d from the previous week, while crude oil exports averaged 4.515 million b/d, up by 437,000 b/d from the previous week, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.556 million b/d, up by 0.3 percent from the same four-week period last year.
During the same period, crude oil exports averaged about 3.881 million b/d, down by 14.1 percent year on year.
The United States has been one of the world's important oil producers in past years with the help of its shale oil production growth.
