Investing.com - Crude oil prices held weaker in Asia on Tuesday as investors looked ahead to U.S. supply data amid an overall bullish tone as Russia looks to join efforts to curb output.
Crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange eased 0.14% to $51.28. There was no floor trading on the NYMEX on Monday because of the Columbus Day holiday in the U.S. All electronic transactions will be booked with Tuesday's trades for settlement. Brent oil for December delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London fell 0.11% to $53.08 a barrel.
Later on Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute will release its estimates of crude and refined product stocks last week. The figures will be followed on Wednesday by more closely-watched data from the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency will release its monthly report on global oil supply and demand.
Last week, data showing U.S. crude supplies fell for the fifth week in a row boosted the demand outlook in the world's largest oil consumer. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, crude oil inventories fell by 3.0 million barrels last week to 499.7 million, the lowest since January.
Overnight, Brent crude Monday hit its highest levels since July 2015 as Putin says Russia would join OPEC output cut deal.
Speaking at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul Monday, Putin said he hoped OPEC would agree on limits to its crude production in November and that Russia was ready to support that decision. Russia will continue to be a reliable energy supplier, he said.
Putin's bullish comments came after Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said he was optimistic a production deal could be reached by November and that it wasn’t “unthinkable” that crude prices could rise another 20% this year to $60 a barrel.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reached an agreement to limit production to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day in talks held on the sidelines of an energy conference in Algeria late last month, a reduction of 0.7%-to-2.2% from its current output of 33.2 million barrels.
However, market analysts remained skeptical of the deal, pondering how such a plan would be implemented.
The 14-member oil group said it won’t finalize details or complete its production agreement until the group’s next official meeting in Vienna on November 30.