HOUSTON, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 1.455 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Feb. 28.
Analysts were expecting a decline of 0.300 million barrels for the week. The API reported a drop of 0.640 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices declined on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery lost 11 cents, or 0.16 percent, to settle at 68.26 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery decreased by 57 cents, or 0.81 percent, to settle at 71.04 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. ■
