Oil nudges down ahead of US data

london — Oil prices nudged down in late European trade on Tuesday, retreating from positive territory as traders digested a flurry of comments from Opec states about the prospects of an output cut and ahead of US crude inventory data.

Brent crude oil futures were down 20 cents at $51.26 a barrel by 1400 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by four cents to $50.48 a barrel. Analysts said that oil would trade in a range ahead of crude oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute, due at 2030 GMT, followed by official Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday.

“Crude oil does not want to drop the support (that was tested on Monday) until it sees if it can use the weekly US statistics for another test of an upside break-out,” Petromatrix analysts said in a note. US crude inventories were forecast to have risen last week by 800,000 barrels to 469.5 million barrels, which would be bearish for prices, compared with the previous week’s decline of five million barrels.

But inventory data has surprised by showing drawdowns in six of the seven past weeks, including the largest fall since 1999. The data is closely watched to gauge supply and demand in the world’s biggest crude consumer.

The verbal jockeying among the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) continued ahead of a November 30 meeting that could cut output, with Iraq emerging as a possible dissenter and non-member Russia as a potentially compliant collaborator.

“So for now the market remains range-bound while jumping from one headline to another,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity research at Saxo Bank.

Data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the InterContinental Exchange shows that money managers added to their bets on a rising crude price at the fastest monthly pace on record in October. — Reuters

So for now the market remains rangebound while jumping from one headline to another Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank