HOUSTON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 6.90 million barrels in the U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ending April 19.
In the previous week ending April 12, API reported a decrease of 3.096 million barrels of crude oil inventories, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a decrease of 1.4 million barrels of crude oil inventories for the week.
EIA will release its data on crude oil inventories on Wednesday, and the market expected it to grow by 1.255 million barrels.
Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as the U.S. government's tough move against Iran crude exports continued to rattle the market.
The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery rose 0.75 U.S. dollar to settle at 66.30 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery was up 0.47 dollar to close at 74.51 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
