HOUSTON, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) — The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 872,000 barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Jan. 21.

Analysts expected a decrease of about 400,000 barrels for this week.

The API reported a drop of 1.404 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices posted solid growth on Tuesday as concerns over geopolitical tensions remain.

The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery grew 2.29 U.S. dollars, or 2.75 percent, to settle at 85.60 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery advanced 1.93 U.S. dollars, or 2.24 percent, to close at 88.20 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday that some 8,500 U.S. troops had been put on heightened alert for a possible deployment due to escalating tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border, with no decision on formal deployments.

The market tone stayed strong, supported by heightening geopolitical risk, according to Chiyoki Chen, chief analyst at Sunward Trading.

U.S. commercial crude stocks fell 2.1 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 21, according to the latest survey of analysts by S&P Global Platts.

Meanwhile, U.S. distillate stocks decreased 1.6 million barrels while gasoline stocks rose 2.2 million barrels last week, according to the survey.