Investing.com – Crude settled lower on Tuesday, after OPEC reported that oil inventories rose in February while Saudi Arabia pushed oil production back above 10 million barrels a day, which deepened fears of a global supply glut.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for May delivery lost 68 cents to settle at $47.72 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent lost 42 cents to $50.92 a barrel.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ latest monthly report revealed that Saudi Arabian crude oil production rose to 10.011 million barrels a day, up from 9.748 million in January while the report also forecasts a rise in production from non-OPEC members in 2017.
Despite the uptick in production from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, total production for OPEC is decreasing, as its members pumped 31.95 million barrels per day in February, compared to 32.097 million barrels a day in January.
However, the increasing pace of U.S. oil production continued to worry investors, as output soared to 9 million barrels a day in February, up 430,000 barrels a day from September 2016, the OPEC report revealed.
A surprise build in U.S. inventories has weighed on crude prices over recent sessions as investors worry that it may dampened OPEC’s efforts to reduce supply.
In November last year, OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in an effort to combat the oversupply issue that has pressured prices over the last two years.
Meanwhile, market participants look ahead to crude oil inventories expected on Wednesday at 10:30 EDT.