2018.10.1615:38:00UTC+00Crude Oil Ends Marginally Higher

Crude oil futures ended marginally up on Tuesday, after having declined a bit sharply early on in the session amid concerns about economic growth and likely drop in oil demand.

However, prices rose subsequently on reports that Iranian crude exports dropped in the first two weeks of October.

Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.14, or 0.2%, at $71.92 a barrel. Oil futures scaled a low of $71.03 and a high of $72.27 a barrel.

Oil prices eased earlier in the session, with traders reacting to the U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks that "rogue killers" could be responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who hasn't been seen since entering the Istanbul consulate on October 2.

Trump came up with these remarks after a 20-minute phone call with Saudi Arabia's King Salman, raising hopes that the U.S. is unlikely to take any punitive action against the kingdom.

The sanctions on Iran's oil sector will go into effect on November 4. The United States has done most of the things it could do, and there is not much left to do against Iran, the country's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying today by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

The American Petroleum Institute's inventory data is due for publication later in the day. The official crude oil report from the Energy Information Administration is due tomorrow morning.