HOUSTON, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 4.600 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending March 21.

Analysts were expecting a decline of 2.500 million barrels for the week.

The API reported a surge of 4.593 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices settled mixed on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery lost 11 cents, or 0.16 percent, to settle at 69.00 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery gained 2 cents, or 0.03 percent, to settle at 73.02 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.