The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 5.618 million barrels of crude oil in US inventories for the week ending Friday.
Analysts had expected a surge of 1.1 million barrels for this week.
The API figure shows how much oil and product is available in storage, giving an overview of US petroleum demand. If the increase in crude inventories is more than expected, it implies weaker demand and is bearish for crude prices.
Oil prices fell more than $2 on Tuesday in choppy trading on growing worries about fuel demand and the outcome of US midterm elections.
A drop in total U.S. energy consumption is expected next year, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday, citing uncertainty in macroeconomic conditions, which could significantly affect energy markets.
Based on the S&P Global macroeconomic model, the country’s GDP is expected to fall slightly in 2023, which will contribute to the decline of its energy consumption, the EIA said in its November Short-Term Energy Outlook report.
