HOUSTON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 0.593 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Aug. 26.
Analysts had expected a drop of about 0.633 million barrels for this week.
The API reported a decline of 5.632 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices tumbled on Tuesday, driven by fears that an inflation-induced economic slowdown would hurt fuel demand.
The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery lost 5.37 U.S. dollars, or 5.5 percent, to settle at 91.64 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery decreased 5.78 dollars, or 5.5 percent, to close at 99.31 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The sell-off came as traders worried that major central banks' aggressive policy tightening to tame inflation could push up recession risks and subdue energy demand.
Oil participants also awaited data on U.S. fuel stockpiles as the Energy Information Administration is set to release its weekly petroleum status report on Wednesday. ■