Investing.com - US crude prices dipped in Asia on Tuesday in the first trading day of the New Year with the market a bit light as Japan is shut for a holiday and investors keeping close tabs on events in Iran where protesters clashed with authorities through the weekend over rising food and fuel prices.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for February delivery eased 0.30% to $60.24 a barrel. ICE Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the US, were last quoted at $66.63 a barrel.
In the week ahead, market participants will eye fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products expected to be delayed by a day for API and EIA figures because of the New Year holiday.
Last week, U.S. oil prices ended above $60 a barrel in the final trading day of the year on Friday, for the first time in over two years amid signs that a glut in global inventories is easing.
Oil prices have been buoyed by indications that global inventories are declining, as shrinking supplies reassured investors.
On Thursday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that crude stockpiles fell to the lowest level since October 2015 in the week ended Dec. 22. It was the sixth consecutive weekly decline in U.S. stockpiles, according to the EIA data.
EIA data also showed that U.S. oil production saw its first weekly drop since October, declining by 35,000 barrels per day from a record high the previous week. The decline helped ease some concerns about a surge in shale production undermining efforts to rid the market of excess supplies.
In November, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with some non OPEC producers including Russia, agreed to extend current oil output cuts until the end of 2018.
Strong compliance with the output cut deal together with robust global demand has helped spur an oil market rally since the middle of the year.
The International Energy Agency has said that oil demand rose by 1.5 million barrels a day in 2017, and will increase further in 2018 by 1.3 million barrels a day.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures lost 0.22% to end at $1.7870 a gallon on Friday, while heating oil rose 0.78% to $2.0657 a gallon.