HOUSTON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 0.448 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Aug. 12.
Analysts had expected a drop of about 0.117 million barrels for this week.
The API reported a surge of 2.156 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices fell noticeably on Tuesday, as demand concerns predominated.
The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery lost 2.88 U.S. dollars, or 3.2 percent, to settle at 89.41 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, marking its lowest finish since late January.
Brent crude for October delivery decreased 2.76 dollars, or 2.9 percent, to close at 92.34 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Market participants continued to worry that a slowing global economy would hurt energy demand.
Traders also awaited data on U.S. fuel stockpiles as the U.S. Energy Information Administration is set to release its weekly petroleum status report on Wednesday.
