The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 7.85 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Nov. 25.

Analysts expected a drop of 2.487 million barrels for this week.

The API reported a decline of 4.819 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices closed mixed on Tuesday as market participants awaited a key meeting by major producers.

The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery added 96 cents, or 1.24 percent, to settle at 78.2 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for January delivery lost 16 cents, or 0.19 percent, to settle at 83.03 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, will meet on Dec. 4. In October, the oil alliance agreed to reduce its output target by 2 million barrels per day from November to shore up prices.

Oil prices have been under pressure recently amid worries over ebbing demand as the global economy slows.
Source: Xinhua