U.S. Crude Oil Futures Update

U.S. crude oil futures remained relatively stable in post-settlement trading on Tuesday following a report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) indicating a larger-than-expected decline in weekly domestic crude stocks.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures, the U.S. benchmark, recently traded at $71.50 a barrel after settling up 1.7% at $71.56 a barrel.

The API reported that U.S. crude inventories decreased by approximately 4.3 million barrels for the week ended September 20, contrasting with a build of 2 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had anticipated a decline of about 1.1 million barrels.

In addition, gasoline stockpiles fell by approximately 3.4 million barrels, while distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, declined by 1.1 million barrels.

The official government inventory report is scheduled to be released on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).