The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build this week for crude oil of 1.860 million barrels, while analysts predicted a build of 333,000 barrels. The build comes as the Department of Energy released 5 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Week Ending July 15, to 480.1 million barrels. U.S. crude inventories have shed some 61 million barrels since the start of 2021, with a 1.83 million barrel gain since the start of 2020, according to API data. In the week prior, the API reported a build in crude oil inventories of 4.762 million barrels after analysts had predicted a draw of 1.933 million barrels. WTI was trading up on Tuesday as fears of the tight market over take recession fears—at least for today. WTI was trading up 1.32% on the day at 2:09 p.m. ET in the runup to the release at $104 per barrel—a rise […]