By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles fell last week, but product gasoline inventories increased for a second-straight week to add further uncertainty on the outlook for product demand at time when a vaccine setback has clouded optimism over the reopening.
West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude prices, rose $0.69 a barrel on the news, after settling up $0.48 at $60.18 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.6 million barrels for the week ended April 8, according to an estimate released Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute. That compared with a draw of 2.6 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week.
The API also showed that gasoline inventories increased by about 5.6 million last week, compared with a 4.5 million build in the prior week, and distillate stocks fell by about 3.0 million barrels.
Oil prices ended higher on the day, but upside was kept in check by concerns that a setback for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)'s vaccine will delay the economic reopening, slowing the recovery in energy demand.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 2.89 million barrels last week.