Investing.com - Oil futures are trading slightly lower during Tuesday’s Asian session on the heels of modest gains seen in U.S. trade Monday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for April delivery fell 0.12% to USD91.94 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday after rising slightly in the U.S. on Monday. On Monday, oil traded down by as much as 1.2% following the release of some concerning data points out of China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer.
China's industrial production rose 9.9% in February, below expectations for a 10.5% increase also below a 10.3% hike logged during the previous month. Consumer prices in China rose by 3.2% in February from a year earlier, above expectations for a 3% increase and accelerating sharply from a 2% rate of increase in January.
Those data points, which fuel speculation the Chinese recovery has not yet reached the pitch market participants have hoped for, combined with news Saudi Arabia increase output last month are seen as weighing on crude prices.
Goldman Sachs added on Monday that U.S. crude supplies could increase in the second and third quarters as more pipeline capacity becomes available.
Elsewhere, the U.S. state of Colorado said its 2012 oil production climbed to 48 million barrels, a 50-year high, due in large part to increased production at the Niobrara Shale. Colorado’s oil production was less than 33 million barrels in 2009.
Some estimates say the Niobrara Shale could be home to more than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Anadarko Petroleum is among the major producers there.
Meanwhile, Brent crude for May delivery fell 0.01% to USD109.53 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.