Investing.com – Crude settled higher on Tuesday, as investors looked ahead to the release of U.S. inventories data expected to show a decline in U.S. crude stockpiles.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for May delivery gained 79 cents to settle at $51.03 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent rose by 97 cents to $54.09 a barrel.
Despite concerns over the uptick in global oil production, after Libya reopened its biggest oil field – the Sharara – on Sunday, oil prices hit session highs, as investors shifted focus to U.S. energy data from the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
A fresh batch of inventories data from the American Petroleum Institute at 16:30 EDT, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration at 10:30 EDT on Wednesday is expected to show U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 0.435 million barrels.
As the calendar draws closer towards the summer months in the U.S., demand for gasoline edges higher because of the advent of the ‘summer driving season’.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) says that gasoline demand is typically about a million barrels per day higher at its summer peak than at its low point for the year, which is generally in January.
Yet, the level of global supply in the industry, remained a concern, as a ramp up in production by non-OPEC members such as the U.S. has poured cold water on OPEC’s efforts to drain the glut in supply, which has pressured prices over the last two years.
In November last year, OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) but non-OPEC members compliance with the deal has lagged behind that of their OPEC counterparts.