US oil futures rise despite API inventory showing larger build in crude stocks

Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil futures move above post-settlement levels Tuesday despite the American Petroleum Institute reporting a larger-than-expected increase in weekly domestic crude stockpiles.

Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, recently traded at $66.61 a barrel following the report after settling up 0.3% at $66.25 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories increased by 4.2M barrels for the week ended Mar. 7, compared with a draw of 1.5M barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a build of 2.1M barrels.

Gasoline stockpiles decreased by about 4.6M barrels, while distillate inventories -- the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil -- increased by 421,000 barrels.

The official government inventory report is due Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT).