WTI Shrugs Off Unexpectedly Large Crude Inventory Build WTI Shrugs Off Unexpectedly Large Crude Inventory Build After the initial tumble last night - after API reported an unexpected build in crude inventories (and big build in gasoline stocks) - oil prices have surged higher overnight and across the US equity market open as all those Monday fears appear to be evaporating once again. Risk-on is the main driver, said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich. I still believe oil fundamentals themselves are supportive, but the last 72 hours were primarily driven by shifts in investors attitude to risk. Maybe this morning''s official data will reignote some sense of fundamentals in the energy complex however fleeting. API Crude 806k (-5.4mm exp) Cushing -3.57mm Gasoline 3.31mm (-1.0mm exp) Distillates DOE Crude 2.11mm (-3.7mm exp) Cushing -1.347mm Gasoline -121k (-1.0mm exp) Distillates -1.349mm Analysts expected a 9th straight weekly draw in crude stocks, even after API reported an unexpected build, but were wrong when the official data showed an even bigger 2.11mm barrel increase.