Investing.com – Crude futures settled lower on Tuesday, as data showing weaker-than-expected oil demand in China continued to weigh on sentiment while concerns remained Opec may struggle to tackle the glut in supply, following a drop in compliance with the deal to curb production.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for September delivery fell 4 cents to settle at $47.55 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent gained $0.12 cents to trade at $50.85 a barrel.
Crude futures started the session on the back foot falling to three-week lows, following data on Monday showing Chinese oil refineries in July operated at their slowest rates in nearly twelve months.
The downbeat data fuelled concerns that a glut of refined fuel products could lessen demand for oil from China, the world’s second-largest consumer, reducing the prospect of oil inventories falling below the five-year average.
Meanwhile, an announcement by the Nigerian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell that it had lifted a force majeure on Bonny Light crude exports, also added to oversupply jitters.
Crude futures attempted to pare losses in the late afternoon U.S. session, as investors looked ahead to bullish U.S. crude inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday as well as a further report from EIA on Wednesday.
Analysts forecast crude inventories fell by 3m barrels in the week ended Aug 11, the seventh-straight week of declines.
An uptick in U.S. shale production, however, is expected to curb sentiment on oil prices, after the EIA said Monday it expected to see a climb in crude output from key U.S. shale regions of 117,000 barrels per day (bdp) in September to 6.149 million bpd.
“While global inventories have managed to decline in recent months, the threat of U.S. shale has meant inventory draws have found difficulty providing significant price support,” said Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric (PA:SCHN).