--Crude oil flat as traders await additional guidance from data
--Monday trading volume was lowest all year
--Lack of Iran news keeps traders on sidelines
By Dan Strumpf
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Crude-oil futures were little changed for the second straight session Tuesday, as uncertainty over Iran and forthcoming U.S. data left traders hesitant to stake big positions.
Trading volumes has been thin in recent days, with Monday's trading volume in benchmark Nymex futures at the lowest level all year.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $107.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe fell 1 cent to $125.64 a barrel.
Futures have remained confined to a tight range between $105 and $108 a barrel through much of March. Worries over Iran's nuclear program and intensifying sanctions have acted as a floor under prices, but tepid demand and the prospect of a peaceful resolution to the stand-off with Tehran has left traders wary of bidding prices much higher, analysts said.
"People are relatively comfortable with prices where they are," said Matt Smith, analyst at Summit Energy in Louisville, Ky. "Any escalation with Iran could see prices spike at any point, and that's why we're seeing some nervous trading."
Although a European Union oil embargo on Iran is set to kick in July 1, Saudi Arabia has boosted oil output to compensate for the supply disruption and Libyan supplies have returned to market.
The U.S. and its allies have been ratcheting up pressure on Iran in recent months over its nuclear program. Those countries worry that Iran is working toward a nuclear weapon, although Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes.
"On the support side we have the war on Iran and the interventions of the U.S. Federal Reserve, on the resistance we have demand destruction," said Olivier Jakob of the trading consultancy PetroMatrix in a research note.
Barring fresh developments out of Iran, weekly data on U.S. oil inventories are likely to be the most significant driver of prices in the coming days.
Early estimates from analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires show U.S. oil inventories rising 2.3 million barrels in the week ended March 23. Gasoline stockpiles are seen falling 1.7 million barrels, while stocks of distillates, including heating oil and diesel, are seen falling 300,000 barrels. Refiners are seen boosting operations by 0.3 percentage point from their 82.2% level reported the previous week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly survey is due at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is due to release its own survey for the same period at 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
Front-month April reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently traded 1.13 cent, or 0.3%, lower at $3.4053 a gallon. April heating oil traded 0.41 cent, or 0.1%, lower at $3.2247 a gallon.
-By Dan Strumpf, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2818; dan.strumpf@dowjones.com.
