By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil inventories unexpectedly jumped last week, the API reported Tuesday, exacerbating concerns about a slowdown in demand amid intensifying lockdown measures in China and softer global growth fears.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $99.30 barrel following the report after settling down 3.2% at $100.11 per barrel.
U.S. crude inventories increased by 1.6 million barrels for the week ended May. 5. That compared with a draw of 3.5 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a decrease of about 457,000 barrels.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 823,000 barrels last week, while distillate stocks increased by about 662,000 barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 457,000 barrels last week.