By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly increased last week at a time when expectations for demand continue to lean bullish.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $85.19 barrel on the news, after settling up 1.8% at $86.96 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories rose by about 1.4 million barrels for the week ended Jan.14. That compared with a draw of 1.1 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a draw of about 1.4 million barrels.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks decreased by 1.2 million barrels.
The data comes just as oil prices continued to trend higher following supply disruptions and bullish outlook on demand.
The International Energy Agency raised its forecast on demand this year by 200,000 barrels a day (bpd), to 3.3 million bpd.
The official government inventory report due Thursday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 1 million barrels last week.