According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 2.5 million barrels for the week ending Jan. 26.
Analysts predicted a smaller drop of 0.867 million barrels this week.
In the previous week, the API reported a larger decline of 6.674 million barrels.
This news led to an increase in oil prices on Tuesday.
Specifically, the West Texas Intermediate for March delivery rose by 1.35 percent, settling at 77.82 U.S. dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, Brent crude for March delivery went up by 0.57 percent, settling at 82.87 dollars per barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
