Crude-oil futures slipped Tuesday ahead of the release of U.S. oil supply figures.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May CLK5, -0.34% shed 27 cents, or 0.5%, to $56.11 a barrel. June Brent crude LCOM5, -0.69% on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 50 cents, or 0.8%, to 62.97 a barrel.
Oil prices on Monday were mixed, with Nymex crude settling 1.2% higher, while Brent crude was unchanged.
Talk that oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for Nymex WTI futures may have declined over the second half of last week may have helped to support the market, analyst Tim Evans at Citi Futures said in a note.
However, both U.S. total commercial crude stocks and Cushing inventories are expected to show at least a moderate further build for the week ended April 17 as a whole, he said.
Oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute is due later Tuesday, followed by the more closely watched report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
Market observers are also starting to speculate about the next OPEC meeting scheduled for June 5 and whether the cartel will make any changes to its stance of maintaining oil production levels.
“Although it’s hard to predict how the views within OPEC may shift between now and June 5, we think it’s not too soon to consider how different policy options might translate into oil price levels,” Evans said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the Yemeni coast to join a growing fleet of ships keeping watch on an Iranian flotilla American defense officials suspect may be carrying arms for Houthi fighters in Yemen.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May RBK5, -0.93% — the benchmark gasoline contract — lost 2 cents, or 0.9%, to trade at $1.914 a gallon.
