U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 2.93 million barrels this week, according to this week’s American Petroleum Institute (API) inventory report published on Tuesday afternoon, compounded by larger than expected builds in gasoline and distillates as well. Despite OPEC’s apparent adherence to the agreed upon production cuts so far, today’s news that crude oil inventories rose for the third week in a row will no doubt weigh heavily on the price of oil after last Friday, Baker Hughes reported 35-rig increase to the number of oil and gas rigs active in the United States—the largest single-week increase in years. Up until the API’s data release, Brent crude has traded fairly flat since Friday’s rig count release. Brent crude was trading at $55.40 ($55.45 on Friday), while WTI crude traded at $53.16 ($53.33 on Friday). Within minutes, both benchmarks began to fall. The API reported a 4.85-million-barrel build in gasoline […]