Oil futures lower after API reports surprise jump in weekly US crude inventories

Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil futures slipped below post-settlement levels Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported a surprise jump in weekly domestic crude stockpiles.

Crude Oil WTI Futures , the U.S. benchmark, recently traded at $63.64 a barrel following the report after settling up 2.8% at $63.67 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories rose by 4.3M barrels for the week ended May. 9, compared with a draw of 4.5M barrels reported by the API for the previous week and confounding expectations for a decline of 2.4M barrels.

Gasoline stockpiles decreased by about 1.4M barrels, while distillate inventories -- the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil -- fell by 3.7M barrels.

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

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