HOUSTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil imports increased during the week ending Dec. 7, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.4 million barrels per day (b/d) last week, up by 174,000 b/d from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 7.6 million b/d, 1.9 percent more than the same four-week period last year.

Total motor gasoline imports last week averaged 525,000 b/d, and distillate fuel imports averaged 144,000 b/d.

The report said that U.S. crude oil exports averaged 2.3 million b/d last week, down by 929,000 b/d from the last week.

During the previous week ending Nov.30, U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.2 million b/d, and U.S. crude oil exports averaged 3.2 million b/d.

U.S. oil prices declined 0.97 percent Wednesday due to lower-than-expected drop of crude oil inventories within last week in the United States.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery fell 50 cents to settle at 51.15 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA said that Brent crude oil spot prices averaged 65 U.S. dollars per barrel in November, down 16 dollars per barrel from October, the largest monthly average price decline since December 2014.

The EIA also expects that Brent spot prices will average 61 dollars in 2019 and that WTI crude oil prices will average about 7 dollars per barrel lower than Brent prices next year.