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By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly rose for the first time in nine weeks at a time when rising Covid-19 infections threaten the demand outlook, according to a report from the API.

West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark climbed by 51 cents, to $66.86 a barrel on the news, after settling up $1.0 to $67.42 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories increased by 0.81 million barrels for the week ended July 15. That compared with a draw of 4.1 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week.

The API also showed that gasoline inventories increased by about 3.3 million last week, compared with a 1.5 million build in the prior week, and distillate stocks fell by about 1.2 million barrels.

The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies declined by about 4.5 million barrels last week.