Investing.com -- U.S crude oil futures rose in post-settlement trading Tuesday as the American Petroleum Institute reported an unexpected decline in domestic weekly crude stocks.
Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $77.28 a barrel following the report after settling 1.8% lower at $76.96 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by about 3.9M barrels for the week ended Jul. 19, compared with a draw of 4.4M barrels reported by the API for the previous week and forecasts for a build of 700,000 barrels.
The API data showed that gasoline stockpiles decreased by 2.8M barrels, while distillate inventories -- the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil -- fell by 1.5M barrels.
The official government inventory report is due Wednesday at 10:30 EST (15:30 GMT).