HOUSTON, March 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil imports decreased while exports increased during the week ending March 10, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report released on Wednesday.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.216 million barrels per day (b/d) last week, down by 55,000 million b/d from the previous week, while crude oil exports averaged 5.027 million b/d, up by 1.665 million b/d from the previous week, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report.

Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.255 million b/d, down by 1.1 percent from the same four-week period last year.

During the same period, crude oil exports averaged about 4.654 million b/d, up by 57.2 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.