By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly rose last week, the API reported Tuesday, but that did little to alleviate concerns that the surge in oil prices are set to continue after U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russia energy imports.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $124.53 barrel on the news, after settling up 3.6% at $123.70 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories increased by 2.8 million barrels for the week ended March. 3. That compared with a draw of 6 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a draw of about 833,000 barrels.
The unexpected build comes just as investors weigh up the fall out from the President Biden's move to ban Russia energy imports amid Moscow's ongoing assault on Ukraine.
“We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy,” President Joe Biden said Tuesday. “That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports…” The embargo will ban new shipments of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal imports to the U.S.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories fell by 2.0 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks increased by 5.5 million barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies decreased by about 657,000 barrels last week.