The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 2.970 million barrels for the week ending September 4. Analysts had predicted an inventory draw of 1.335-million barrels . In the previous week, the API reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 6.360 million barrels , after analysts had predicted a smaller draw of 1.887 million barrels. Oil prices were trading up on Tuesday afternoon before the API’s data release, but the rising prices come only after a brutal trading day in the day prior when oil prices sunk to their lowest levels since June. A half-hour before the data release, at 4:00 pm EDT, WTI had risen by $1.32 (+3.59%) to $38.08. While up significantly on the day, WTI is still trading nearly $5 per barrel under last week’s levels. The Brent crude benchmark had risen by $0.97 at 4:00 pm (+2.44%) […]