Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles increased more than expected last week, the API reported Wednesday, marking the second-straight week of much larger builds and fueling further focus on robust domestic production.
Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $78.03 a barrel following the report after settling up 1.1% at $77.91 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories rose by about 7.2 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 16, compared with a build of 8.5M barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting an increase of about $4.3M barrels.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories rose by about 415,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 2.9M barrels, confounding expectations for a draw of about 2.1M barrels and 1.4M barrels, respectively.
The official government inventory report due Thursday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies increased by about 4.3M barrels last week.