Investing.com - West Texas Intermediate oil futures declined on Wednesday, amid speculation weekly supply data due later in the session will show U.S. crude inventories rose for the ninth straight week last week.
Crude oil for delivery in January on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 64 cents, or 1.5%, to trade at $42.23 a barrel during European morning hours.
A day earlier, Nymex futures jumped $1.12, or 2.68%, after Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border, fueling concerns over a disruption to supplies from the Middle East.
Market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 10:30AM ET Wednesday. The data was expected to show that crude inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels last week.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said that U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.6 million barrels in the week ended November 20.
U.S. oil supplies have risen for eight straight weeks, underlining concerns over a domestic supply glut.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for January delivery slumped 79 cents, or 1.71%, to trade at $45.33 a barrel. On Tuesday, prices surged $1.29, or 2.88%.
The oil market has been on the defensive in recent months amid uncertainty about how quickly the global glut of crude is set to shrink.
Saudi Arabia said earlier this week that it is prepared to use all measures necessary to ensure a stable oil market. The world's biggest oil producer added that it is ready to cooperate with OPEC and non-OPEC producers in order to stabilize prices.
OPEC will meet on December 4 to review their output strategy. Global oil production is outpacing demand following a boom in U.S. shale oil and after a decision by OPEC last year not to cut output in order to defend their market share.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $3.10 a barrel, compared to $3.25 by close of trade on Tuesday.