HOUSTON, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 1.41 million barrels of crude oil in the U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ending Dec. 6.
API reported a decrease of 3.72 million barrels of crude oil inventories for the previous week ending Nov. 29, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a drop of 4.9 million barrels.
Oil prices increased on Tuesday as investors were optimistic that the global crude market would see more balanced supply and demand.
The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery increased 0.22 U.S. dollar to settle at 59.24 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery added 0.09 dollar to close at 64.34 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
