The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 2.927 million barrels for the week ending March 19. Analysts had predicted a much smaller inventory build of 272,000 barrels for the week. In the previous week, the API reported a draw in oil inventories of 1 million barrels after analysts had predicted build of 2.964 million barrels. After oil prices fell last week, they fell even further on Tuesday ahead of today’s data. At 4:00 p.m. ET, before Tuesday’s data release, WTI had fallen by $3.91 on the day (-6.35%) to $57.48—a $7 per barrel decrease from last week as new EU lockdowns threaten to further dampen oil demand and as speculators look to liquidate their long positions. The Brent crude benchmark had also fallen on the day $4.13 at that time (-6.39%) to $60.49—about $8 per barrel down on the week. U.S. […]