Investing.com - Oil prices plunged nearly 3% during North American hours on Tuesday, extending overnight losses, after both Saudi Arabia and Iran played down expectations for a deal to freeze or cut oil production at the closely watched informal OPEC meeting on Wednesday.
Oil ministers from both countries said on Tuesday that talks among OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers in Algiers are "consultative," casting doubt on the chances of any policy decision during the meeting.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for December delivery tanked $1.38, or 2.88%, to $46.55 a barrel by 9:35AM ET (13:35GMT).
On Monday, London-traded Brent futures surged $1.45, or 3.12%, amid hopes global oil producers will make progress on a deal to limit production at an informal meeting tentatively scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia and other big Middle East crude exporters, such as Iran and Iraq, will meet non-OPEC producer Russia at the International Energy Forum in Algeria on Wednesday at 14:00GMT (10:00AM ET).
According to market experts, chances that the meeting would yield any action to reduce the global glut appeared minimal. Instead, most believe that oil producers will continue to monitor the market and possibly postpone freeze talks to the official OPEC meeting in Vienna on November 30.
An attempt to jointly freeze production levels earlier this year failed after Saudi Arabia backed out over Iran's refusal to take part of the initiative, underscoring the difficulty for political rivals to forge consensus.
Elsewhere, crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled $1.30, or 2.83%, to $44.63 a barrel, after rallying $1.27, or 2.61%, a day earlier.
Market players shifted their focus to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday.