The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Wednesday reported a decrease of 7.418 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Dec. 29, 2023.

Analysts expected a drop of 2.967 million barrels for this week.

The API reported a hike of 1.837 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday.

The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery went up 2.32 U.S. dollars, or 3.3 percent, to settle at 72.7 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude for March delivery increased 2.36 dollars, or 3.11 percent, to settle at 78.25 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Source: Xinhua