HOUSTON, Dec. 10(Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 0.499 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Dec. 6.
Analysts expect a drop of 1.3 million barrels for this week.
The API reported a surge of 1.232 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices edged up on Tuesday.
The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery gained 22 cents, or 0.32 percent, to settle at 68.59 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery increased 5 cents, or 0.07 percent, to settle at 72.19 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. ■