The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise crude oil inventory build of 3.45 million barrels for the week ending December 14, compared to analyst expectations that we would see a draw in crude oil inventories of 2.475 million barrels . Last week, the API reported a draw of over 10 million barrels. A day later, the EIA had a rather sober report showing a much smaller 1.2-million-barrel draw. Leading up to today’s data release from the API, crude oil prices were trading sharply down, with WTI trading comfortably below $50 per barrel. At 11:16am EST WTI was trading down $2.23 (-4.44%) per barrel at $47.97—almost $4 per barrel less than last Tuesday. Brent crude was trading down $1.97 (-3.30%) at $57.64, almost $3 down week on week. Today’s price slide reflects the growing worry of continued inventory overhangs in the United States, despite the newly hatched OPEC and […]