2018.08.1415:28:00UTC+00Oil Ends Slightly Lower Ahead Of Data

Crude oil futures failed to hold early gains and settled lower on Tuesday, with traders looking ahead to crude inventory data.

Crude oil prices edged higher early on in the session, after OPEC confirmed that top exporter Saudi Arabia had cut crude output by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 10.29 million bpd in July.

However, oil retreated subsequently to settle marginally lower.

Crude oil futures for September delivery ended down $0.16, at $67.04 barrel, after having advanced to $68.36 a barrel earlier.

On Monday, crude oil futures ended down $0.43, or 0.60%, at $67.20 a barrel, recovering from a low of $65.71.

With the second phase of U.S. sanctions on Iran to come into force in November, the OPEC had decided to increase crude production. Saudi Arabia cut production in July, despite having agreed with OPEC to step up production.

Despite the reduction in supply from Saudi Arabia, global oil production in July rose by 680,000 bpd, with total production of OPEC countries rising by 41,000 bpd to 32.32 million bpd.

The OPEC report pegged world oil demand at 1.43 million bpd in 2019, down from 1.64 million bpd in 2018. Traders looked ahead to weekly stockpiles data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the day. On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration will release the official U.S. crude inventory data.

Last Friday, Baker Hughes' data revealed that U.S. rig count rose to 869 in the week ended August 10, with the addition of 10 rigs. Genscape predicted last week that inventories at the Cushing, Okla. will rise.