Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles increased by less than expected last week, the API reported Tuesday, boosting sentiment on crude following expectations for a slowing domestic output.
Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $73.47 a barrel following the report after settling up 0.7% at $73.31 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories rose by about 674,000 barrels for the week ended Feb. 2, compared with a draw of about 2.5M barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting an increase of about 2.1M barrels.
U.S. production has been recovering following a weather-related dip in January, but will likely slow from record levels in 2024, the Energy Information Agency said Tuesday as it cut its forecast for domestic oil output by 120,000 barrels per day to 170,000 bpd.
The API data also showed that both gasoline inventories rose by about 3.7M, but distillate stockpiles fell by 3.7M barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies decreased by about 2.1M barrels last week.