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

HOUSTON, march 5 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a growth of 7.29 million barrels in the U.S. crude Oil inventories for the week ending march 1.

In the previous week ending Feb. 22, API reported a drop of 4.2 million barrels of crude Oil.

In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook released last month, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. crude Oil prices will fall and crude Oil production will increase in 2019 and 2020.

According to the EIA, Brent crude Oil spot prices will average 61 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2019 and 62 dollars per barrel in 2020, compared with an average of 71 dollars per barrel in 2018.

U.S. crude Oil production averaged 12.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in January 2019, up 90,000 b/d from December 2018, said EIA.

It expected U.S. crude Oil production to average 12.4 million b/d in 2019 and 13.2 million b/d in 2020, with most of the growth coming from the Permian region of the state of Texas and New Mexico.

Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday as continued signs of crude production curbs underpinned the market, while the gains were capped by news that Libya has reopened its largest Oil field.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery slipped 0.03 dollar to settle at 56.56 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery increased 0.19 dollar to close at 65.86 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.