By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com — Oil prices fell on Tuesday as traders braced for the possibility of higher weekly U.S. crude stockpiles than projected by analysts.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled down $1.01, or 1.6%, at $60.55. It tumbled as much 2.5% earlier.
London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for crude, finished the session slightly lower, ending down 18 cents, or 0.3%, at $64.17. It fell 1.3% intraday.
Crude prices came under pressure on concerns that analysts may be downplaying estimates for crude stockpiles for last week. They have been projected at just around 107,000 barrels versus the previous week’s build of 1.9 million.
The American Petroleum Institute, or API, is scheduled to release at 4:30 PM ET (20:30 GMT) a snapshot of what last week’s inventory level for crude and petroleum might have been.
The API snapshot comes before Wednesday’s official report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on supply and demand for petroleum products for the week ended March 26.
“I’m expecting last week’s build to be similar to the previous week,” said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge Again Capital. “I think the market’s expectations are on the lower end.”