The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 2.70 million barrels for the week ending December 18. Analysts had predicted an inventory draw of 3.135 million barrels for the week. In the previous week, the API reported a build in oil inventories of 1.973-million barrels, after analysts had predicted a draw of 1.937 million barrels. Both Brent and WTI were down on Tuesday afternoon before the data release, despite earlier vaccine optimism and a new stimulus package that was approved in the United States. Dragging on oil prices is a new strain of Covid-19 that caused massive border closures throughout the world in an effort to contain the spread of the mutated strain. In the run-up to Tuesday’s data release, at 2:15 p.m. EDT, WTI had fallen by $0.78 (-1.63%) to $47.19, down $.30 per barrel on the week. The Brent crude […]