U.S. crude oil futures extended losses post-settlement on Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a larger-than-expected increase in domestic crude inventories.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $66.57 per barrel following the report, down from its official settlement price of $66.90 per barrel, which marked a 1% decline for the day.
API data showed U.S. crude inventories rose by 4.5 million barrels for the week ending March 14, surpassing both the previous week’s 4.2 million-barrel build and economists’ forecasts of a 1.2 million-barrel increase.
Meanwhile, gasoline stockpiles declined by 1.7 million barrels, while distillate inventories—including diesel and heating oil—dropped by 2.1 million barrels.
Traders now await the official U.S. government inventory report, scheduled for release on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT), for further market direction.