The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise draw in crude oil inventories of 2.6 million barrels for the week ending March 8, coming in significantly under analyst predictions that crude oil inventories would build by 2.655 million barrels . Last week, the API reported a large surprise build in crude oil of 7.29 million barrels . A day later, the EIA supported API’s account of a large gain, estimating that crude inventories had climbed by 7.1 million barrels. Including this week’s data, the net draw is just 640,000 barrels for the ten reporting periods so far this year, using API data. (Click to enlarge) Oil prices were up slightly on Tuesday prior to the data release on word that Saudi Arabia would continue to restrict exports to the United States and as Venezuela’s status grew even more grim with a weekend blackout that halted already restricted exports from […]