Oil inventories in surprise inventory build last week: API

Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles sprung a surprise increase last week, the API reported Tuesday, just as data showing increasing domestic output weighed on sentiment.

Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $81.56 a barrel following the report after settling down at $81.93 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories rose by about 4.9 million barrels for the week ended Apr. 26, compared with an decline of 3.23M barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a decrease of 1.5M barrels.

The increase in stockpiles comes just rising domestic output returned to focus. U.S. crude production rose to 13.15 million barrels per day in February, from 12.58 million bpd in January, marking the largest monthly increase since October, the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.

The API data also showed that gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.48M barrels, while distillate inventories fell 2.2M barrels.

The official government inventory report is due Wednesday.

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