Investing.com - Oil prices drifted lower on Tuesday, with a planned production cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries largely priced into the market as traders’ awaited U.S. inventory data.
Crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at $49.97 a barrel at 10:18AM ET, off an intra-day high of $50.53.
Brent oil for December delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London was last at $51.48 a barrel, down from an intra-day high of $52.09.
London-traded Brent prices rose to a one-year high of $53.73 on October 10, amid growing expectations of an output cut by major global oil producers.
OPEC 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.
However, the group said it won’t finalize details or complete its production agreement until its next official meeting in Vienna on November 30, when an invitation to join cuts could also be extended to non-OPEC countries such as Russia.
Market analysts remain skeptical of the deal, amid uncertainty over how the agreement would be implemented.
OPEC's monthly report last week revealed that its oil production rose in September to the highest level in eight years, despite the agreement to potentially cut output.
The producer cartel pumped 33.39 million barrels per day last month, up 220,000 barrels per day from August.
Traders were also looking ahead to weekly inventory data from the U.S.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET.
Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock increase of 2.4 million barrels.