HOUSTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Both U.S. crude oil imports and exports increased during the week ending March 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.9 million barrels per day last week, up by 186,000 barrels per day from the previous week's level, while crude oil exports averaged 3.4 million barrels per day, up by 846,000 barrels from the previous week's level.

Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.6 million barrels per day, 11.2 percent less than the same four-week period last year, while the averaged exports of crude oil were about 3.0 million barrels per day, up by about 1.5 million barrels per day year-on-year.

According to EIA's latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, net imports of U.S. crude oil and petroleum products fell from an average of 3.8 million barrels per day in 2017 to 2.3 million barrels per day in 2018. EIA forecast that the net imports will continue to fall to 1.0 million barrels per day in 2019.

EIA also said that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the United States will become a net exporter of crude oil and petroleum products by about 900,000 barrels per day.