Surprise Crude Build Weighs on Oil

Crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week, by 8.428 million barrels for the week ending February 23, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). The API reported a 7.168-million-barrel rise in crude inventories in the week prior. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.8 million barrels as of February 23. Inventories are now at 360.3 million barrels—the highest level since May 2023. Oil prices were up ahead of the API data…