HOUSTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil imports increased, while exports decreased last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report released by EIA on the day, U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.85 million barrels per day last week, up by 454,000 barrels per day from the previous week, while crude oil exports averaged 2.07 million barrels per day last week, down by 172,000 barrels per day from the previous week.

Over the past four weeks, U.S. crude oil imports averaged about 7.58 million barrels per day, 283,500 barrels per day less than the same four-week period last year, while U.S. crude oil exports over the past four weeks averaged about 2.40 million barrels per day, approximately 1 million barrels per day more than the same four-week period last year.

U.S. total products imports last week averaged 2.09 million barrels per day, up by 469,000 barrels per day from the previous week, while U.S. total products exports last week averaged 4.87 million barrels per day, down by 507,000 barrels per day from the previous week.

Over the past four weeks, U.S. total products imports averaged about 1.84 million barrels per day, down by 275,250 barrels per day from the same four-week period last year, while U.S. total products exports over the past four weeks averaged about 5.40 million barrels per day, 177,000 barrels per day more than the same four-week period last year.

In total, the net imports of crude oil and products in the United States during last week was 2.99 million barrels per day, up by 1.60 million barrels per day from the previous week.