Oil edged lower on Tuesday ahead of weekly data that is forecast to show a rise in U.S. crude inventories, although investor faith in OPEC’s ability to curtail production helped stem a larger price slide. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 10 cents at $67.40 a barrel by 1043 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 eased 17 cents to $63.74. The American Petroleum Institute releases its weekly figures on U.S. crude inventories later on Tuesday. Stocks are forecast to have risen by 2.7 million barrels last week, according to a Reuters poll.
Inventories have fallen by more than 100 million barrels, or a quarter, in the last 12 months, to around their lowest in three years. Seasonally, stocks tend to build in the first three months of the year. Soaring U.S. production is upending global oil markets at a time when other major producers – including Russia and the Middle East-dominated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – have been withholding output to prop up prices.