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

HOUSTON, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 4.753 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Nov. 15.

Analysts expect a hike of 0.800 million barrels for this week.

The API reported a drop of 0.777 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices edged up on Tuesday.

The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery gained 23 cents, or 0.33 percent, to settle at 69.39 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for January delivery increased 1 cent, or 0.01 percent, to settle at 73.31 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.