Investing.com – Crude futures settled higher on Tuesday, as investors continued to cheer data suggesting that rising global demand for crude could offset some of the current excess supply.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for August delivery rose 38 cents to settle at $46.40 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 74 cents to trade at $48.88 a barrel.
China's refinery activity continued to indicate strong fuel demand, as data on Monday showed oil refineries increased throughput in June to the second highest on record, adding to expectations that rising global demand for crude could offset excess supply.
Also adding to the positive sentiment on oil futures, was a report suggesting that Saudi Arabia is considering cutting crude exports by up 1 million barrels a day, the Financial Times reported, citing Bill Farren-Price, an oil consultant at Petroleum Policy Intelligence.
Some analysts have suggested, however, that the reported export cuts from Opec-member Saudi Arabia, shows that Opec members are concerned about the recent dip in oil prices.
“This is what OPEC has resorted to, export cuts in order to jawbone the market higher,” said Bill Baruch, chief market strategist at iiTRADER. “We believe that OPEC members are getting restless and instead of this news showing how stable a deal they have, its shows the holes.”
The positive day for oil futures comes ahead of a fresh batch of inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) expected to show that U.S. crude stockpiles fell for a third-straight week.
Analysts forecast crude inventories fell by 3.2m barrels in the week ended July 14.