HOUSTON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil imports decreased while exports increased during the week ending Aug. 25, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report released on Wednesday.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.617 million barrels per day (b/d) last week, down by 316,000 b/d from the previous week, while crude oil exports averaged 4.528 million b/d, up by 270,000 b/d from the previous week, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report.

Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.847 million b/d, up by 12.1 percent from the same four-week period last year.

During the same period, crude oil exports averaged about 3.936 million b/d, up by 3.2 percent year on year.

The United States has been one of the world's important oil producers in past years with the help of its shale oil production growth.