HOUSTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 5.250 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Sept. 15.
Analysts had expected a drop of 2.667 million barrels for the week.
The API reported a hike of 1.174 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices declined on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery dropped 28 cents, or 0.31 percent, to settle at 91.20 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. ■
