Investing.com -- U.S crude oil futures slipped in post-settlement trading Tuesday even as the American Petroleum Institute reported a larger-than-expected decline in domestic weekly crude stocks in a further sign that summer demand is on the rise.
Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $80.94 a barrel following the report after settling 1.1% lower at $81.41 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by about 1.9M barrels for the week ended Jul. 5, compared with a draw of 9.2M barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a draw of 250,000.
The larger-than-expected draw comes even as refineries in the oil-rich state of Texas suffered disruptions, albeit limited, following the impact of Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall on Monday.
The API data also showed that gasoline stockpiles decreased by 3M barrels, while distillate inventories -- the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil -- increased by 2.3M barrels.
The official government inventory report is due Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).