Investing.com - Oil prices slumped to a five-week low during European hours on Wednesday, as market players awaited fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products, while doubts over an output cut by major global oil producers dampened sentiment.
Crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to an intraday low of $46.06 a barrel, a level not seen since September 28.
It was last at $46.16 by 5:05AM ET (09:05GMT), down 53 cents, or 1.14%, after dipping 19 cents, or 0.41%, on Tuesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 10:30AM ET (14:30GMT) Wednesday, amid analyst expectations for an increase of 1.013 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories are expected to fall by 1.124 million barrels while stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, are forecast to drop by 1.896 million barrels.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories increased by 9.3 million barrels in the week ended October 28, well above market expectations.
The API report also showed a decline of 3.6 million barrels in gasoline stocks, while distillates showed a drop of 3.1 million barrels on the week.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for January delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London sank 52 cents, or 1.08%, to $47.62 a barrel, after touching a session low of $47.53, the weakest level since September 28.
London-traded Brent prices settled down 47 cents, or 0.97%, on Tuesday, amid mounting skepticism over the implementation of a planned deal by OPEC to limit production.
OPEC reached an agreement to cap output to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day in talks held in Algeria in late September. However, the 14-member oil group said it won’t finalize details on individual output quotas until its next official meeting in Vienna on November 30.
The possibility that producers could walk away empty-handed from the November meeting looms large after Iraq, Iran, Nigeria and Libya all signaled they might not take part in the proposed production cut deal. Russia’s unclear stance is also fueling uncertainty.