Investing.com -- Crude futures fell slightly on Tuesday on a volatile day of trading, as investors reacted to across-the-board production and inventory declines worldwide, as well as bearish comments from the United Arab Emirates' oil minister.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for July delivery traded in a broad range between $49.05 and $50.09 a barrel before settling at $49.07, down 0.27 or 0.55% on the session. On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for August delivery wavered between $49.85 and $50.86 a barrel, before closing at $49.88, down 0.49 or 0.97% on the day. Both the U.S. and international benchmarks of crude remained near six-month highs hit earlier last week.
Crude prices received a boost on Tuesday after industry research group Genscape said inventories at the Cushing Oil Hub in Oklahoma fell by 686,600 last week. Despite the considerable draw, stockpiles at the nation's largest storage facility still remain near full capacity. It came days after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said commercial crude inventories nationwide fell by 4.2 million barrels for the week ending on May 20 in comparison with the previous week. Cushing is the main delivery point of Nymex oil.
Earlier, a survey from Reuters showed that OPEC output fell mildly by 120,000 barrels per day in May to 32.52 million bpd, driven by widespread production slowdowns in Nigeria. At the same time, the declines were limited by higher monthly production in May by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Investors also reacted to reports that Iraq could ship an additional 5 million barrels of oil in June, rebounding from a dry spell this month spurred by a series of power outages at facilities in Southern Iraq. Iraq's main rivals in Saudi Arabia and Iran are both expected to ramp up production over the summer months, according to reports.
Crude futures, though, turned negative late in the session after UAE oil minister Suhail Al Mazroui said the oil market has been correcting upwards of late and that he is happy with the market's current state. The comments ahead of Thursday's semi annual OPEC meeting in Vienna ostensibly lower the probability that the world's largest oil cartel will enact a comprehensive production freeze aimed at stabilizing the prolonged rout in oil prices.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, gained more than 0.05% to an intraday high of 95.84. The index is still down by more than 4% since early-December. Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.