HOUSTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 0.509 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending May 3.
Analysts were expecting a drop of 1.430 million barrels for the week.
The API reported a hike of 4.906 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices inched down on Tuesday.
The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery lost 10 cents, or 0.13 percent, to settle at 78.38 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for July delivery decreased by 17 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at 83.16 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. ■