U.S. crude oil inventories down last week: API

HOUSTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 1.663 million barrels of crude oil in the U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ending Jan. 1.

API reported a decrease of 4.785 million barrels of crude oil inventories for the previous week ending Dec. 25, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a fall of 6.1 million barrels.