The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a draw of 1.17 million barrels of United States crude oil inventories for the week ending September 1, compared to analyst expectations that this week would see a draw in crude oil inventories of 1.29 million barrels . Other analysts had anticipated a 2.9 million barrel draw. Last week, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise build of 38,000 barrels of crude oil. The API reported a build in gasoline inventories for week ending September 1 in the amount of 1 million barrels. Analysts predicted a draw of 81,000 barrels . Oil prices were trading down in mid-afternoon trading prior to the release of the API data on inventories. At 3:43pm EDT, WTI was trading down 1.47% (-$1.03) at $68.84 per barrel—relatively flat week on week. Brent crude was also trading down 1.16% (-$0.91) at $77.26 per barrel–$1.00 over last week’s figures. […]