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Despite edging up early on in the session, crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday, as traders looked ahead to weekly inventory data, and appeared a bit hesitant to create significant long positions due to uncertain outlook for energy demand.
The American Petroleum Institute's weekly oil report is due later today, while the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release its inventory data for the week ended January 22 on Wednesday morning.
Oil's decline was somewhat limited as prices found some support on news about a blast in Saudi Arabia.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.16 or about 0.3% at $52.61 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were lower by about $0.10 or 0.2% at $55.78 a barrel.
A survey by S&P Global Platts indicates crude inventories in the U.S. may have dropped by 1.7 million barrels last week. Gasoline inventories are forecast to rise by 1.2 million barrels while distillate stockpiles may have dropped down by about 800,000 barrels.
On the stimulus front, U.S. President Joe Biden said he's open to negotiations on his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief proposal, but didn't rule out pursuing a Democrat-only route for passage.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier Monday an aid package was unlikely before mid-March, just when jobless benefits from the last package will be running out.
