Huge Jump in Crude inventories Caps Oil Prices

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United rose by a massive 9.043 million barrels for the week ending January 31. Analysts had expected a much smaller 2.8-million-barrel build. This adds to the 5.025 million barrel build in U.S. crude oil inventories for the week prior, with gasoline inventories building for multiple weeks as well. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.2 million barrels as of February…