HOUSTON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 1.77 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Sept. 30.
Analysts expected a hike of 1.966 million barrels for this week.
The API reported a surge of 4.15 million barrels in the previous week.
Oil prices continued their upward trajectory on Tuesday as traders awaited a key meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery increased 2.89 U.S. dollars, or nearly 3.5 percent, to settle at 86.52 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery added 2.94 dollars, or 3.3 percent, to close at 91.8 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
On Monday, the WTI and Brent soared 5.2 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.
The two-day rally came as traders bet that OPEC+ would consider a large output cut when it meets on Wednesday.
In early September, the oil alliance announced a production cut of 100,000 barrels per day for October to bolster prices.
