Investing.com - Crude oil prices struggled near a one-week low on Tuesday, 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).
Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of around 0.5 million barrels, which would mark the second weekly decline in a row.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were little changed at $50.49 a barrel by 3:30AM ET (0730GMT), after tumbling $1.09, or 2.1%, in the prior session.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., dipped 13 cents, or about 0.2%, to $56.02 a barrel. The contract fell 67 cents, or 1.2%, in the last session.
Crude prices fell to the lowest settlement in more than a week on Monday as a rise in U.S. drilling and higher OPEC output put the brakes on a rally that helped prices notch their biggest third-quarter gain in 13 years.
Prices have rallied in recent weeks after data showed strong compliance from major producers with their supply cut agreement and a plethora of energy agencies suggested global demand is increasing.
In May, OPEC and non-OPEC members led by Russia agreed to extend production cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day for a period of nine months until March 2018 in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures held steady at $1.553 a gallon, while heating oil slumped 0.4 cents, or 0.2%, to $1.762 a gallon.
Natural gas futures inched up 0.4 cents, or 0.1%, to $2.933 per million British thermal units.