Investing.com - Oil prices were sharply higher in North American trade on Tuesday, putting futures on track for their fourth up session in a row, as investors looked ahead 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 (2030GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of around 2.2 million barrels.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude August contract was at $43.94 a barrel by 8:10AM ET (1210GMT), up 54 cents, or around 1.3%. It touched its lowest since August 11 at $42.05 on Wednesday last week.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for September delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London tacked on 71 cents, or roughly 1.5%, to $46.73 a barrel, after hitting $44.35 last Wednesday, a level not seen since November 14.
Oil settled higher Monday, tallying their third straight session of gains, despite ongoing pressure from expectations of further growth in U.S. output.
U.S. drillers last week added rigs for the 23rd week in a row, according to data from energy services company Baker Hughes, 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.
In May, OPEC and some non-OPEC producers extended a deal to cut 1.8 million barrels per day in supply until March 2018.
The cartel will not rush into making a further cut in oil output or end some countries' exemptions to output limits, OPEC delegates said earlier, although a meeting in Russia next month is likely to consider further steps to support the market.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for August rose 1.6 cents, or about 1.1%, to $1.450 a gallon, while August heating oil gained 2.1 cents to $1.407 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for August delivery was little changed at $3.054 per million British thermal units.