By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles dropped more than expected last week, helping oil prices cut some losses after pressure from progress on Russia-Ukraine talks eased worries about a prolonged war disrupting supplies.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $105.28 barrel following the report, after settling $1.72 cents lower $104.24 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels for the week ended March. 24. That compared with a draw of 4.3 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a decline of about 1.6 million barrels.
Russia's pledge to scale back military operations around Ukraine's capital Kyiv stoked hopes for further progress on peace, easing fears about a prolonged war disrupting energy supplies.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks decreased by 215,000 barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 1 million barrels last week.