HOUSTON, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 0.797 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending July 14.

Analysts had expected a drop of 2.25 million barrels for the week.

The API reported a hike of 3.02 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices gained on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery added 1.6 U.S. dollars to settle at 75.75 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.