Oil prices finished lower Tuesday, retreating from the more than two-year highs they reached a day earlier on the back of a purge of high-level figures in Saudi Arabia, a key crude producer.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, December West Texas Intermediate crude declined by 15 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $57.20 a barrel.
January Brent crude, the global benchmark, gave up 58 cents, or 0.9%, to finish at $63.69 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.
Meanwhile, OPEC said it expects medium-term global oil demand growth from 2016 to 2022 to “remain healthy,” according to the World Oil Outlook to 2040 report released Tuesday. It forecast an average annual increase of almost 1.2 million barrels a day for the period to 102.3 million barrels a day from 95.4 million barrels a day. OPEC will release its monthly oil market report on November 13.
Petroleum supply data is also set to take centerstage in the U.S. as weekly reports from the American Petroleum Institute and Energy Information Administration are due late Tuesday and Wednesday morning, respectively. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast an average decline of 2.7 million barrels for crude stockpiles.
The EIA left its forecast for WTI prices nearly unchanged for the remainder of 2017 according to a monthly report issued Tuesday. However, it raised next year’s forecast by 0.9% to $51.04 a barrel. It also lowered its U.S. crude output forecast by 0.1% for this year but raised next year’s forecast by 0.2% to 9.95 million barrels a day.
Meanwhile, December natural gas settled at $3.152 per million British thermal units, up 0.6%, after rallying by 5% in the previous session.