Oil prices down as API data reportedly show an unexpected weekly climb in U.S. crude supply
The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies rose by 2.4 million barrels for the week ended May 17, according to sources. The API also reportedly showed a stockpile increase of 350,000 barrels in gasoline, but distillate supplies fell by 237,000 million barrels. Inventory data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday. The EIA data are expected to show crude inventories declined by 2 million barrels last week, according to a survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts. It also forecast a supply climb of 1 million barrels for gasoline and a decline of 1 million barrels for distillates. July West Texas Intermediate crude was at $62.99 a barrel in electronic trading, down from the contract's $63.13 settlement on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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