HOUSTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 3.479 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending April 29.
Analysts had expected a drop of about 1.167 million barrels for this week.
The API reported a decline of 4.78 million barrels in the previous week.
U.S. oil prices dipped on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery lost 2.76 U.S. dollars to settle at 102.41 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. ■