2018.12.1115:19:00UTC+00Crude Oil Futures Settle Higher

After a sharp fall in the previous session, crude oil futures rebounded to close higher on Tuesday, aided by an unexpected supply cut from Libya.

News about Libya's National Oil Company declaring force majeure on exports from the El Sharara oilfield lifted crude oil prices today, although worries about a likely fall in crude demand due to weak outlook for global economic growth, and doubts over how OPEC and its allies plan to implement planned production cuts next year limited the commodity's upside.

The move to stop exports from the El Sharara oilfield, which was seized by a local militia group last weekend, is expected to result in a production loss of 315,000 barrels a day and an additional loss of 73,000 barrels a day at the El Feel oilfield.

Crude oil futures for January ended up $0.65, or 1.3%, at $51.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Monday, crude oil futures ended down $1.61, or 3.1%, at $51.00 a barrel, the lowest settlement price in about a week.

Traders also weighed Chinese customs data released over the weekend. The data showed China's crude oil imports rose 15.7% year-on-year to a record high of 10.48 million barrels a day in November, beating previous record of 9.64 million barrels a day reached in April 2018.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has reduced its oil-price forecasts for this year and next, following the recent price declines that came ahead of Friday's decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-member allies to cut production starting in January.

EIA is scheduled to come out with its inventory data on Wednesday morning. After ten successive week of increases, U.S. crude stockpiles declined in the week ended November 30. Last week's data from EIA showed, crude oil inventories in the U.S. were down by 7.3 million barrels to 443.2 million barrels.

The American Petroleum Institute's weekly oil report is due later today.