HOUSTON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast on Tuesday that U.S. crude oil production will average 10.7 million barrels per day in 2018, up from 9.4 million barrels per day in 2017, and will average 11.5 million barrels per day in 2019.
In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) released on Tuesday, EIA estimated that U.S. crude oil production averaged 10.9 million barrels per day in August, up by 120,000 barrels per day from June.
EIA forecast total global liquid fuels inventories to decrease by 0.4 million barrels per day in 2018 compared with 2017, followed by an increase of 0.1 million barrels per day in 2019.
Brent crude oil spot prices averaged 73 U.S. dollars per barrel in August, down almost 2 dollars from July. EIA expected Brent spot prices will average 73 dollars and 74 dollars per barrel in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Meanwhile, EIA expected West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average about 6 dollars per barrel lower than Brent prices in 2018 and in 2019.