Investing.com - Oil prices were lower during North American hours on Tuesday, as markets were jittery before the results of the U.S. presidential election.
Crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange inched down 27 cents, or 0.6%, to $44.62 a barrel by 9:05AM ET (14:05GMT). The contract rallied 82 cents, or 1.86%, on Monday.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for January delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London dipped 27 cents, or 0.59%, to $45.89 a barrel. It jumped 57 cents, or 1.25%, in the prior session.
The highly-anticipated U.S. Presidential Election will be held on Tuesday. The first exit polls, which are a projection, are expected to come out on Tuesday night at around 7:00PM ET (00:00 GMT on Wednesday). Results will be declared state by state.
If the outcome is clear, the television networks are expected to make their official call at 11:00PM ET (04:00 GMT Wednesday).
Global financial markets were rattled last week by signs the U.S. presidential election race between Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump was tightening.
However, hopes for a Clinton win mounted after FBI Director James Comey informed Congress over the weekend that it had "not changed its conclusions" on the private email server maintained by the Democratic candidate
According to the final Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, Democrat Hillary Clinton has about a 90% chance of defeating Republican Donald Trump in the race for the White House.
Markets have tended to see Clinton as the status quo candidate, and news favoring her bid often boosts risk appetite.
Market players are also looking 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 (20:30GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday.
Meanwhile, oil traders continued to weigh prospects of a coordinated production cut among major global oil producers.
OPEC reached an agreement to cap output to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day in talks held in Algeria in late September. However, the 14-member oil group said it won’t finalize details on individual output quotas until its next official meeting in Vienna on November 30.
The possibility that producers could walk away empty-handed from the November meeting looms large after Iraq, Iran, Nigeria and Libya all signaled they might not take part in the proposed production cut deal. Russia’s unclear stance is also fueling uncertainty.