U.S. Crude Oil Futures Update

U.S. crude oil futures experienced a slight decline in post-settlement trading on Tuesday following a surprising rise in domestic crude inventories, as reported by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Crude Oil WTI Futures, the benchmark for U.S. crude, was recently trading at $68.45 a barrel after settling at $68.59, marking a 0.3% increase.

The latest report indicated that U.S. crude inventories rose by approximately 499,000 barrels for the week ending December 6, contrasting with the 1.2 million barrels reported by the API the previous week. Economists had predicted a decrease of 1.3 million barrels.

In addition, gasoline stockpiles saw an increase of about 2.9 million barrels, while distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.5 million barrels.

The official government inventory report is scheduled for release on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).