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

HOUSTON, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 4.7 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Dec. 13.

Analysts expect a drop of 1.85 million barrels for this week.

The API reported a surge of 0.499 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday.

The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery lost 63 cents, or 0.89 percent, to settle at 70.08 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery decreased 72 cents, or 0.97 percent, to settle at 73.19 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.