Investing.com - Oil prices edged lower in European trading on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude July contract was at $46.09 a barrel by 3:15AM ET (0715GMT), down 37 cents, or around 0.8%.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for August delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London shed 31 cents to $48.41 a barrel.
Oil prices tallied a gain for a third-straight session on Tuesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report at 10:30AM ET (1430GMT) Wednesday.
Analysts expect crude oil inventories dropped by around 2.7 million barrels at the end of last week, while gasoline supplies are seen decreasing by 457,000 barrels and distillates are forecast to gain about 686,000 barrels.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories rose by 2.753 million barrels in the week ended June 9.
The API report also showed a sizable gain of 1.794 million barrels in gasoline stocks, while distillate stocks fell by 1.451 million barrels.
There are often sharp divergences between the API estimates and the official figures from EIA.
Oil prices have been under pressure in recent weeks as concern over rising U.S. shale output offset production cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC members.
U.S. drillers last week added rigs for the 21st week in a row, extending a year-long drilling recovery to the highest level since April 2015, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.
The increase in U.S. drilling activity and shale production has mostly offset efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market.
Last month, OPEC and some non-OPEC producers extended a deal to cut 1.8 million barrels per day in supply until March 2018.
Despite the agreement, OPEC’s output rose by 336,100 barrels per day to 32.14 million barrels in May, led largely by increases from Libya, Nigeria and Iraq, according to the cartel’s closely watched monthly market report published on Tuesday.
The International Energy Agency will release its own monthly oil report later in the session.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for July inched up 0.3 cents, or about 0.2%, to $1.488 a gallon, while July heating oil dipped 0.2 cents to $1.444 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for July delivery dipped 0.4 cents to $2.962 per million British thermal units.