Investing.com - Oil prices erased earlier losses in North American trade on Tuesday, bouncing off a more than three-month low as market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles fell by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended July 29.
Gasoline inventories are expected to decline by 1.0 million barrels while stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, are forecast to drop by 833,000 barrels, according to analysts.
Crude oil for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on 68 cents, or 1.7%, to trade at $40.74 a barrel by 13:39GMT, or 9:39AM ET, after falling to a session low of $39.85 earlier.
On Monday, New York-traded oil sank to $39.82, a level not seen since April 19. WTI crude futures are nearly 22% lower from their 2016 highs above $50 a barrel scaled in early June, technically placing it in bear market territory, as signs of an ongoing recovery in U.S. drilling activity combined with elevated stocks of fuel products weighed.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for October delivery rose 88 cents, or 2.1%, to $43.02 a barrel, after falling to a more than three-month low of $41.87 on Monday.
London-traded Brent futures are down almost 20% since peaking above $50 in early June, as prospects of increased exports from Middle Eastern and North African producers, such as Iraq, Nigeria and Libya, added to concerns that a glut of oil products will cut demand for crude by refiners.
Supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has risen to 33.41 million barrels per day (bpd) in July from a revised 33.31 million bpd in June, according to a survey based on shipping data and information from industry sources.