By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected just as investors continue to price in the prospect of supply disruptions propping up oil prices as geopilical tensions heat up.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $85.08 barrel on the news, after settling up 2.8% at $85.60 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 872,000 barrels for the week ended Jan. 21. That compared with a build of 1.4 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a draw of about 400,000 barrels.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks decreased by 2.2 million barrels.
The official government inventory report due Thursday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 728,000 barrels last week.