HOUSTON, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Wednesday reported an increase of 2.56 million barrels of crude oil in the U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ending Jan. 15.
API reported a decrease of 5.821 million barrels of crude oil inventories for the previous week ending Jan. 8 while the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a fall of 3.2 million barrels.
Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, buoyed by hopes for further U.S. fiscal stimulus. The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery added 26 cents to settle at 53.24 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery increased 18 cents to close at 56.08 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
