The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated on Tuesday a surprise large crude oil inventory draw of 4.27 million barrels for the week ending January 24, compared to analyst expectations of a 482,000-barrel build in inventory. Last week saw a build in crude oil inventories of 1.57 million barrels , according to API data. The EIA’s estimates, however, were of a draw of 400,000 barrels for that week. Oil prices were up earlier in the day prior to the afternoon data release, ending a five day price slide as fears of oil demand destruction at the hands of the deadly Coronavirus gripped the oil markets. Even with Libya’s near-complete production shutdown of nearly 1 million barrels per day, oil prices were still down week over week. At 3:43 pm EST on Tuesday the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.46 (+0.87%) at $53.60—roughly down $5 per barrel under last week’s levels. […]