Investing.com - U.S. oil prices fell sharply in North American trade on Tuesday, hitting a more than one-week 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 rose by 3.4 million barrels in the week ended March 11.
Crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange shed 73 cents, or 1.99% to trade at $36.44 a barrel by 13:45GMT, or 9:45AM ET, after falling by as much as 3% to a daily low of $36.06, a level not seen since March 4.
On Monday, New York-traded oil futures dropped $1.32, or 3.43%, on concerns that a four-week market recovery has gone beyond fundamentals.
Since falling to 13-year lows at $26.05 on February 11, U.S. crude futures have rebounded by approximately 35% as a decline in U.S. shale production boosted sentiment.
However, analysts warned that market conditions remained weak due to an ongoing glut. U.S. crude stockpiles currently stand at all-time highs above 520 million barrels.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for May delivery dropped by as much as 2.55% to hit an intraday low of $38.32, the weakest level since March 4, before recovering slightly to $38.88 during New York morning hours, down 65 cents, or 1.64%.
A day earlier, London-traded Brent futures slumped 86 cents, or 2.13%, after Russia lent support to Iran's refusal to align with other major producers in a joint effort to cap output, placing a potential OPEC-Non OPEC production freeze in jeopardy.
Brent futures are up by roughly 30%, since briefly dropping below $30 a barrel on February 11 as continued hopes major oil producers will discuss a potential output freeze lifted prices.
Short-covering began in mid-February after Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC members Qatar and Venezuela agreed with non-OPEC member Russia to freeze output at January levels, provided other oil exporters joined in.
OPEC and non-OPEC producers are likely to hold their next meeting on a plan to freeze output levels in mid-April in Doha, three OPEC sources said on Monday. An earlier plan was to meet on March 20 in Russia.
Meanwhile, Brent's premium to the West Texas Intermediate crude contract stood at $2.44 a barrel, compared to a gap of $2.35 by close of trade on Monday.