Houston (US), October 26: The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 4.52 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Oct. 21.
Analysts expected a surge of 0.2 million barrels for this week.
The API reported a decline of 1.27 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices climbed on Tuesday, lifted by a weaker U.S. dollar.
The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery increased 74 cents, or 0.9 percent, to settle at 85.32 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery added 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, to close at 93.52 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Lending buoyancy to prices was a retreat in the U.S. currency. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.9 percent to 110.9500 in late trading on Tuesday. Historically, the price of oil is inversely related to the price of the U.S. dollar.
The API figure shows how much oil and product is available in storage, giving an overview of U.S. petroleum demand. If the increase in crude inventories is more than expected, it implies weaker demand and is bearish for crude prices.
Source: Xinhua