The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a large crude oil inventory draw of 7.55 million barrels for the week ending June 20, but still coming in over analyst expectations of a much bigger 2.891-million barrel drawdown in inventories. Last week, the API reported a draw of 812,000 barrels . A day later, the EIA estimated that US inventories had drawn down by 3.1 million barrels. The net build is still 26.69 million barrels for the 26-week reporting period so far this year, using API data. (Click to enlarge) Oil prices were up earlier on Tuesday as the general expectation was for a drawdown in crude oil inventories in the runup to the data release. Another headwind for higher prices is the continuing tensions in the Middle East. At 12:32pm EST, WTI was trading up by $0.13 (+0.22%) at $58.03—roughly $4.00 over last week’s levels. Brent was trading up $0.24 […]