By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than expected last week, but that did little to ease fears that demand will continue outstrip supply amid an ongoing energy crunch.
West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark traded at $84.47 a barrel on the news, after settling up 89 cents at $84.65 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 15. That compared with a build of 3.3 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a build of about 1.7 million barrels.
The API also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 530,000 barrels last week, and distillate stocks increased by 986,000 barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies increased by about 1.9 million barrels last week.