Investing.com - Oil prices were modestly higher on Tuesday, rebounding from the prior session's sharp losses as market players 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 (21:30GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock rise of 620,000 barrels.
Crude oil for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange added 10 cents, or about 0.2%, to $52.06 a barrel by 9:45AM ET (14:45GMT). U.S. crude prices sank $2.03, or 3.8%, in the prior session.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for March delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London tacked on 14 cents, or 0.25%, to $55.08 a barrel, after tumbling $2.16, or almost 4%, a day earlier.
Oil suffered its worst one-day loss in six weeks on Monday amid fears that rising supplies from Iran and Iraq combined with increased U.S. output would undermine OPEC's efforts to curb a global supply glut.
January 1 marked the official start of the deal agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC member countries such as Russia in November last year to reduce output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day.
The deal, if carried out as planned, should reduce global supply by about 2%.
However, some traders remain skeptical that the planned cuts will be as substantial as the market currently expects.
There are also some worries in the market about rising supplies from Iran and Iraq, as well as increased output from Libya and Nigeria, which are both allowed to ramp up production as part of the OPEC deal.
Production increases in the U.S. also remained in focus. According to oilfield services provider Baker Hughes, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. last week increased by 4 to 529, the tenth straight weekly rise and a level not seen in more than a year.
Some analysts have warned that the recent rally in prices could be self-defeating, as it encourages U.S. shale producers to drill more, adding to concerns over a global supply glut.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for February ticked up 1.2 cents, or 0.7% to $1.579 a gallon, while February heating oil tacked on 0.2 cents, or around 0.2%, to $1.640 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for February delivery jumped 13.4 cents, or 4.3%, to $3.236 per million British thermal units, after falling to a seven-week low on Monday.