HOUSTON, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 4.2 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Aug. 1.

Analysts expect a drop of 1.8 million barrels for this week.

The API reported a surge of 1.539 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday.

The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery decreased 1.13 U.S. dollars, or 1.7 percent, to settle at 65.16 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery dropped 1.12 dollars, or 1.63 percent, to settle at 67.64 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.