Investing.com - Oil prices extended losses from the prior session in European trade on Wednesday, holding near three-month lows as market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 14:30GMT, or 10:30AM ET, Wednesday amid expectations for a drop of 2.3 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories are expected to increase by 36,000 barrels while stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, are forecast to rise by 714,000 barrels, according to analysts.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories fell by 827,000 barrels in the week ended July 22. It also showed a decline of 423,000 barrels in gasoline stocks. For distillate inventories including diesel, API reported an increase of 292,000 barrels.
Crude oil for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to a session low of $42.60 a barrel. It was last at $42.88 by 08:03GMT, or 4:03AM ET, down 4 cents, or 0.09%.
A day earlier, New York-traded oil sank to $42.36, a level not seen since April 20, as signs of an ongoing recovery in U.S. drilling activity combined with concerns over rising gasoline inventories weighed
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for October delivery inched down 14 cents, or 0.31%, to $45.09 a barrel, after falling to a more than two-month low of $44.14 on Tuesday.
London-traded Brent futures have been under pressure recently as prospects of increased exports from Libya and Iraq added to concerns that a glut of oil products will cut demand for crude by refiners.
Oil prices are down nearly 15% since peaking above $50 in early June, as high inventories of gasoline products cloud the future outlook for crude.