Investing.com - Oil prices were lower in North American trade on Tuesday, moving back towards a two-week trough, as investors 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 3.2 million barrels.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude August contract was at $43.94 a barrel by 7:45AM ET (1145GMT), down 45 cents, or around 1%. It touched its lowest since June 27 at $43.65 in the prior session.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for September delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London dipped 50 cents to $46.40 a barrel, after sliding a two-week low of $46.11 a day earlier.
Oil ended modestly higher Monday, bouncing back from the lowest level in around two weeks, amid reports that Libya and Nigeria may be asked to cap production in a bid to reduce a global supply glut.
The two countries had been exempted from the pact among major oil producers, led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, to limit global production and ease a glut of oil that has plagued the industry.
So far, the production-cut agreement has had little impact on global inventory levels due to rising supply from producers not participating in the accord, such as Libya and Nigeria, and a relentless increase in U.S. shale oil output.
U.S. drillers added seven oil rigs last week, marking a 24th week of increases out of the last 25. That brings the total count up to 763, the most since April 2015, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for August declined 2.0 cents, or roughly 1.4%, to $1.481 a gallon, while August heating oil slumped 1.4 cents to $1.438 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for August delivery rose 2.6 cents to $2.955 per million British thermal units.