The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday that the U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 3.026 million barrels in the week ending July 7.

Analysts had anticipated a rise of only 0.2 million barrels for this week.

The API reported a decline of 4.382 million barrels in the previous week.

Crude oil futures prices experienced solid growth on Tuesday, driven by increasing market optimism.

The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery rose by 1.84 U.S. dollars, or 2.52 percent, settling at 74.83 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, Brent crude for September delivery increased by 1.71 dollars, or 2.20 percent, settling at 79.40 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

According to the monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday, the production cuts and rising demand are anticipated to drive prices up. The report projects Brent crude oil spot prices to rise to 81 dollars per barrel by the end of this year and to an average of 84 dollars per barrel next year.

The EIA report also assumes that the U.S. economy will grow by 1.5 percent in 2023 and 1.3 percent in 2024, respectively, higher than the forecast of 1.3 percent for 2023 and 1 percent for 2024 in the previous report.

U.S. commercial crude oil and gasoline inventories dropped by 1 million barrels and 1.1 million barrels last week, respectively, according to a survey conducted by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Crude prices are getting a boost as expectations grow for the oil market to remain tight despite all lingering growth concerns, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, a supplier of online multi-asset trading services.

Moya added that West Texas Intermediate crude has a solid floor in place, and it will take a lot to go wrong for oil prices to lose their footing.
Source: Xinhua