HOUSTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 1.539 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending July 25.
Analysts expect a drop of 2.5 million barrels for this week.
Oil prices climbed on Tuesday.
The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery went up 2.5 U.S. dollars, or 3.75 percent, to settle at 69.21 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for September delivery went up 2.47 dollars, or 3.53 percent, to settle at 72.51 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
