HOUSTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 1.663 million barrels of crude oil in the U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ending Jan. 1.

API reported a decrease of 4.785 million barrels of crude oil inventories for the previous week ending Dec. 25, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a fall of 6.1 million barrels.

U.S. oil prices jumped on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery added 2.31 U.S. dollars to settle at 49.93 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.