Investing.com - Crude oil fell further in Asia on Tuesday after trade data from China disappointed on imports by the world's second largest petroleum buyer and as investors look ahead to industry estimates on inventories in the U.S.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for September delivery eased 0.24% to $49.27 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent fell 0.38% to $52.17.
China's crude oil imports fell to a seven-month low in July, but were still up about 12% on year at 8.16 million barrels per day.
China's exports and imports produced a wider than expected trade surplus in July in dollar terms, though growth levels were below forecasts, data released on Tuesday showed, following earlier reported yuan-denominated figures.
China reported July exports rose 7.2% and imports gained 11% for a trade balance surplus of $46.74 billion.
Dollar-denominated trade data was China expected to report exports rose 10.9% in July year-on-year, down from an 11.3% gain in June, while imports rose 16.6%, compared to a 17.2% increase in the previous month for a trade balance surplus of $46.08 billion, wider than the $42.77 billion in June.
Late on Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute will provide its estimates of crude oil and refined product stocks at the end of last week to be followed by official data on Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration.
Earlier, Japan said its unadjusted current account fro June reached ¥935 billion, wider than the ¥814 billion in surplus seen, but narrower than the ¥1.654 trillion in May.
Overnight, crude futures settled lower on Monday, amid renewed oversupply jitters, following an uptick in U.S. output to a two-year high while concerns over Opec’s wavering commitment to production cuts continued as a meeting of Opec and non-Opec members got underway.
Fresh from posting a weekly loss, crude futures showed little sign of a rebound, as data showed U.S. production rose to a two-year high while a rebound in Libyan oil output also added to oversupply concerns.
U.S. weekly oil production hit 9.43 million bpd in the week to July 28, the highest since August 2015 and up 12 percent from its most recent low in June last year.
In Libya, Output at the Sharara field, the country’s largest oil field, was returning to normal after a brief disruption by armed protesters in the coastal city of Zawiya, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said. The downbeat data comes amid a two-day meeting of Opec and non-Opec members in Abu Dhabi on Monday, as they seek to reaffirm their commitment to increase compliance with the deal to curb production.
Opec output hit a 2017 high of 33 million bpd in July, up 90,000 bpd from the previous month, a Reuters survey showed last week.
In May, Opec and non-Opec members agreed to extend production cuts for a period of nine months until March, but stuck to production cuts of 1.8 million bpd agreed in November last year.
Some analysts believe oil prices will continue to ebb and flow, as investors await the outcome of the compliance meeting.