The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a crude oil inventory draw of 4.5 million barrels for the week ending December 28, compared to analyst expectations that we would see a draw in crude oil inventories of 2.333 million barrels . Last week, the API reported a surprise crude build of more than 6 million barrels . A day later, the EIA showed that inventories had remained virtually unchanged from the previous week. Leading up to today’s data release from the API, which is on a two-day delay due to the New Year holiday, crude oil prices ticked marginally upward, with WTI and Brent trading flat week on week. At 12:03pm EST on Thursday, WTI was trading up on the day $0.20 (+0.43%) per barrel at $46.74. Brent crude was trading up $0.46 (+0.84%) at $55.37. The slight upward movement for oil prices on Thursday was largely due to Wednesday […]