Investing.com - U.S. crude oil futures traded near a six-year low on Tuesday, as market participants looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 4.0 million barrels in the week ended March 13.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 448.9 million barrels as of last week, the most in at least 80 years, indicating that cheap prices have yet to affect output.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for delivery in April slumped 54 cents, or 1.23%, to trade at $43.34 a barrel during European morning hours. Meanwhile, the May Nymex contract was down 46 cents, or 0.99%, at $45.68 a barrel.
A day earlier, the front-month contract fell to $42.85, a level not seen since March 2009, before ending at $43.88, down 96 cents, or 2.14%, as ongoing concerns over a glut in supplies drove down prices.
Concerns over diminishing spare capacity to store excess oil in the U.S. and China also weighed, according to market participants.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for May delivery declined 34 cents, or 0.63%, to trade at $53.60 a barrel. London-traded Brent prices touched $52.65 on Monday, the lowest level since February 2, before closing at $53.94, down $1.07, or 1.95%.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $7.91 a barrel, compared to $7.81 by close of trade on Monday.
In its monthly report released Monday, OPEC left its 2015 estimate for non-OPEC supply growth at 420,000 barrels a day and warned that output in the U.S. might only start to be curbed towards the end of the year.
OPEC also trimmed its forecast for demand for its own oil in 2015 to 29.19 million barrels a day, down 100,000 barrels from a previous estimate.
On Friday, the International Energy Agency warned that an oil-price recovery remained fragile amid a production rebound in the U.S. The agency added that any appearance of stability in the oil market is tenuous.
Oil prices have fallen sharply in recent months as OPEC resisted calls to cut output, while the U.S. pumped at the fastest pace in more than three decades, creating a glut in global supplies.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.3% to 99.83, moving away from recent 12-year peak of 100.77.
Market participants were looking ahead to Wednesday’s Federal Reserve statement to see if it would drop its reference to being patient before raising rates.
Traders would interpret such a move as a sign that the central bank could raise rates as early as its June monetary policy meeting.