Oil prices waver ahead of OPEC statement, U.S. stockpile data
Investing.com - Oil prices wavered between small gains and losses in choppy volatile trade on Tuesday, as market players looked ahead to the outcome of a meeting of officials from some OPEC and non-member nations in Abu Dhabi for fresh details on how the group can boost compliance with their output-cutting pact.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude September contract was at $49.33 a barrel by 8:35AM ET (1235GMT), down 6 cents, or around 0.1%.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for October delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London shed 14 cents, or about 0.3%, to $52.23 a barrel.
Oil futures finished lower on Monday, albeit off the worst levels of the day.
A panel comprising Russia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, plus officials from OPEC's Vienna headquarters, has met individually with officials from Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Malaysia, sources familiar with the talks said.
A statement on the compliance-boosting effort is being drafted and will probably be issued after the meeting concludes on Tuesday, two sources said.
According to recent calculations, compliance fell to 86% in July, the lowest level since January.
OPEC and some non-OPEC producers, including Russia, have agreed since the start of the year to slash 1.8 million barrels per day in supply until March 2018.
So far, the deal has had little impact on global inventory levels due to rising supply from producers not participating in the accord, such as Libya and Nigeria, as well as a relentless increase in U.S. shale output.
Meanwhile, investors also looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (2030GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of around 2.8 million barrels.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for September was down 1.2 cents, or about 0.8%, to $1.617 a gallon, while September heating oil slipped 0.9 cents to $1.629 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for September delivery advanced 0.7 cents, or roughly 0.3%, to $2.809 per million British thermal units.
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