Investing.com -- Crude futures ticked up on Tuesday remaining near six-month highs, as energy traders awaited the release of the American Petroleum Institute's weekly inventory report for signals on whether domestic storage capacity could begin to level.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for June delivery traded in a broad range between $47.75 and $48.42 a barrel before settling at $48.31, up 0.59 or 1.24% on the session. At session-highs, U.S. crude futures cleared $48.40, a level it last reached in mid-October. Since falling to 13-year lows at $26.05 a barrel on Feb. 11, WTI crude has surged by nearly 70%.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for July delivery wavered between $48.58 and $49.58, before closing at $49.32, up 0.34 or 0.69% on the day. At one point on Tuesday, North Sea brent futures came percentage points from hitting $50 a barrel, a key technical level it last reached on Nov. 4.
Crude futures traded in a tight range on Tuesday, one session after surging more than 3%, amid production disruptions in Nigeria, increased political instability in Venezuela and a bullish note to investors by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) on near-term increases in oil prices through the end of the second quarter. As demonstrations raged on in Caracas, the Financial Times reported that Venezuelan protesters fear that president Nicolas Maduro will cling on to his position at "all costs." Maduro's government has looked to plug a massive budget deficit by printing money in bulk, which has pushed inflation up by more than 140%, according to some estimates. Venezuela, which derives approximately 95% of its foreign exchange revenues from oil exports, has suffered severe economic damage during the prolonged oil rout over the last two years.
Since oil futures peaked at $115 a barrel in June, 2014, crude prices have fallen by more than 55%.
Elsewhere, the American Petroleum Institute will release its latest stockpile report after the close of trading on Tuesday afternoon, while a government report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday could show that crude stockpiles fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week ended May 13. A week earlier, the EIA said domestic crude inventories decreased by 3.4 million barrels, defying estimates from the API, which reported a considerable increase of 3.45 million a session earlier. It came in response to a flurry of production shutdowns in Western Canada, which was ravaged by raging wildfires throughout Alberta that forced more than 1 million barrels per day of oil offline.
At the same time, U.S. production fell by 23,000 to 8.802 million barrels per day touching down to fresh 18-month lows. Weekly output in the U.S. has declined in each of the last 12 weeks.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell by more than 0.15% to an intraday low of 94.31. The index has crashed by more than 4% since early-December.
Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.