The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise draw of 2.13 million barrels of United States crude oil inventories for the week ending October 12, compared to analyst expectations that this week would see a build in crude oil inventories of 2.167 million barrels . Last week, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported the biggest build in more than a year, with crude oil inventories swelling by almost 10 million barrels for the week . One day later, the Energy Information Administration proffered a more modest—but still large—estimate of the build at 5.987 million barrels . The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories as well for week ending October 12 in the amount of 3.4 million barrels. Analysts had predicted a draw of 1.074 million barrels for the week. Oil prices were up in afternoon trading prior to the release of the API data on inventories. At 3:10pm […]