By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly fell last week, as the ongoing reopening of the economy continues to drive up demand ahead of the key U.S. driving season.
West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude prices, was up $1.18 a barrel on the news, after settling up $1.03 at $62.44 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 7.7 million barrels for the week ended April 29, according to an estimate released Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute. That compared with a rise of 4.3 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week.
The API also showed that gasoline inventories fell by about 5.3 million last week, compared with a 1.3 million fall in the prior week, and distillate stocks slipped by about 3.4 million barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 2.19 million barrels last week.