The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 7.356 million barrels for the week ending February 26. Analysts had predicted an inventory draw of 928,000 barrels for the week. In the previous week, the API reported a build in oil inventories of 1.026-million barrels after analysts had predicted a draw of 5.190-million barrels. Oil prices slumped on Tuesday ahead of the data release as the oil markets fear that OPEC+ may loosen its supply restrictions at a time when China’s thirst for oil imports appaears to be waning. At 3:33 p.m. EDT, before Tuesday’s data release, WTI had fallen by $0.96 on the day (-1.58%) to $59.68—more than $2 per barrel down over this time last weke. The Brent crude benchmark had fallen on the day $1.02 at that time (-1.60%) to $62.67—down nearly $3 per barrel on the week. While crude […]