U.S. Crude Oil Futures Rise After API Reports Decline in Crude Stocks

Investing.com — U.S. crude oil futures were boosted in settlement trading on Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a significant decline in weekly domestic crude stocks.

Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $78.65 a barrel following the report after settling up 2.1% at $78.35 a barrel.

According to the report, U.S. crude inventories decreased by about 5.2 million barrels for the week ended August 9, compared to a build of 180,000 barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists had anticipated a decline of about 2 million barrels.

Additionally, gasoline stockpiles fell by 3.7 million barrels, while distillate inventories — which include diesel and heating oil — rose by 612,000 barrels.

The official government inventory report is due Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).

Oil prices settled lower on Tuesday, ending a five-day winning streak. This decline comes as concerns of an expanding Middle Eastern conflict, which could threaten global crude supplies, eased after Iran indicated it might reconsider plans to strike Israel if Gaza ceasefire talks are successful.