HOUSTON, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 3.618 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending May 5.
Analysts had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels for the week.
The API reported a decline of 3.939 million barrels in the previous week.
U.S. oil prices picked up on Tuesday.
The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery grew 55 cents to settle at 73.71 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. ■
