By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than expected last week, the API reported Tuesday, but that did little to dent the optimism following a large drop in gasoline supplies at a time when demand from China is expected to rebound.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $100.80 barrel following the report, after settling 6.7% higher $100.60 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories rose by 7.8 million barrels for the week ended April. 7. That compared with a build of 1.1 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a decline of about 1.4 million barrels.
The move back above $100 a barrel on Tuesday comes as Shanghai's move to ease Covid-19 lockdown measures eased worries about the impact on global demand.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories fell by 5.0 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks increased by 5.0 barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies rose by about 863,000 barrels last week.