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

HOUSTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 4.593 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending March 14.

Analysts expect a rise of 1.170 million barrels for this week.

The API reported a surge of 4.247 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery dropped 68 cents, or 1.01 percent, to settle at 66.90 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery decreased 51 cents, or 0.72 percent, to settle at 70.56 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.