With markets set to close early on Tuesday, Brent futures lost some ground as the few traders who went into the office opted to book profits rather than build new positions. The commodity traded at $111.51 at 6:20 GMT on Tuesday morning.
Despite the profit taking, crude prices remained strong as problems in both Libya and South Sudan coupled with refinery strikes in France kept a floor under prices.
In South Sudan, where 245,000 barrels per day are exported, oil fields were evacuated in preparation for spreading violence. CNBC reported that despite the South Sudanese government's claims that they were in control of the country's oil fields, China National Petroleum Company chose to evacuate its workers to Juba. The evacuation suggests that South Sudan's largest investor isn't confident about the South Sudanese government's position.
In Libya oil fields remained closed as protesters demanded more rights and their share of the nation's oil profits. Libyan oil output has been cut to less than half of its normal capacity for about five months now, tightening the world's supply.
Moving forward investors will be watching for data out on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute. The organization is set to release its weekly stocks report at 4:30 PM EST. The US Energy Information Administration's weekly report will be delayed until Friday as Christmas falls on its normal release date, Wednesday. Most analysts are expecting to see data that shows US crude inventories falling for the fourth consecutive week, which would prop up Brent prices.