The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build this week for crude oil of 4.150 million barrels, while analysts predicted a build of 333,000 barrels. According to API data, U.S. crude inventories have now gained 23 million barrels so far this year—a build made possible only by releasing 166 million barrels from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The build comes as the Department of Energy released 4.6 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in the week ending September 23, leaving the SPR with 422.6 million barrels. In the week prior, the API reported a build in crude oil inventories of 1.035 million barrels after analysts had predicted a build of 2.321 million barrels. WTI rose on Tuesday prior to the data release. At 12:17 p.m. ET, WTI was trading up $1.15 (+1.50%) on the day at $77.86 per barrel—down nearly $7 per barrel on the week. Brent crude […]