On Tuesday West Texas Intermediate oil futures declined for the sixth consecutive session on Tuesday, as continuous concerns over a supply glut in the U.S. drove down prices.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for delivery in April slumped 55 cents, or 1.11%, to trade at $48.90 a barrel during European morning hours after hitting an intraday low of $48.72.
Nymex oil tumbled $1.36, or 2.68% a day earlier, to end at $49.45.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil
for April delivery dropped 50 cents, or 0.85%, to trade at $58.40 a
barrel. Prices touched a daily low of $58.13, the weakest level since
February 19. The April Brent contract sank $1.32, or 2.19%, on Monday to settle at $58.90 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $9.50 a barrel, compared to $9.45 by close of trade on Monday.
On Friday industry research group Baker Hughes
said that the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. fell
by just 37 last week, the smallest weekly drop this year and compared to
a decline of 84 rigs in the preceding week. The number of rigs
drilling for oil in the U.S. totaled 1,019, the lowest since August
2011. The number of oil rigs has declined in 16 of the last 19 weeks
since hitting an all-time high of 1,609 in mid-October, says Investing.com.
At the same time,
oil supplies in the U.S. stand at the highest level in at least 80
years, indicating that cheap prices have yet to affect output.
Investors awaited fresh weekly information on U.S.
stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of demand
in the world’s largest oil consumer.
Later in the day the American Petroleum Institute will issue its inventories report, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 4.0 million barrels in the week ended February 20.
Crude prices climbed on Monday after the Financial Times reported that Nigeria's oil minister said that members of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries have discussed holding an emergency meeting if crude continues to slide.
Meanwhile, investors looked ahead to testimony from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen later in the day for further indications on when the central bank will start raising interest rates.
