U.S. crude production ticked up last week, approaching a 2022 high, keeping pace with an increase in demand for travel fuels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.

Oil Production

Production for the week ended Aug. 26 rose by 100,000 b/d to 12.1 million b/d from the prior week, EIA said in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report. That brought output close to the pandemic-era high of 12.2 million b/d reached earlier in the summer.

After a choppy mid-summer run on the demand front amid lofty gasoline prices, consumption is stabilizing in late August and may rise into the early fall, analysts at Evercore ISI said Wednesday. Prices at the pump have fallen substantially from record highs earlier this summer – down more than 20% from June 14 to around $3.40/gallon on...