Investing.com - Crude oil prices posted mild gains in early Asia on Tuesday ahead of industry data on U.S. stocks.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for delivery in October traded at $93.42 a barrel, up 0.07%, after hitting an overnight session low of $93.07 a barrel and a high of $93.95 a barrel.
Brent oil futures rose 36 cents to $102.65 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Later in the day, the American Petroleum Institute will release its estimates of U.S. crude stocks at the end of last week, after reporting a drop of 1.4 million barrels previously.
The more closely watched Department of Energy estimates due on Wednesday are forecast to show a drop of 1.750 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks, a 750,0-00 barrel drop in distillates and a 1.625 million barel drop in gasoline stocks as the summer driving season nears a close.
Overnight, crude prices continued to slide due to ongoing fears that the global supply is outstripping demand despite unrest in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
In Libya earlier, Islamist-led militias seized control over the Tripoli airport, while in Iraq, concerns began to build that multinational force may be needed to halt the ISIS Sunni insurgency all while fears persist the Russia-Ukraine conflict could escalate.
Still, despite the ongoing nature of geopolitical concerns, oil continues to flow, which pushed prices down on Monday due to perceptions that the global economy is awash in crude.
Soft U.S. housing data watered down prices as well.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported earlier that U.S. new home sales dropped by 2.4% to 412,000 units last month, confounding expectations for an increase of 5.7% to 430,000.
New home sales in June were revised up to 422,000 units from a previously reported 406,000 units.