By Eric Yep
Crude-oil futures moved in a narrow price range in Asian trade
Tuesday with investors closely tracking oil production levels in
the U.S. and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures
for delivery in May traded at $56.34 a barrel at 0513 GMT, down
$0.04 in the Globex electronic session. June Brent crude on
London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.09 to $63.36 a barrel.
Oil prices were mixed in the last trading session, with Nymex
crude settling 1.2% higher, while Brent crude remained
unchanged.
Talk that oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery
point for Nymex WTI futures may have declined over the second half
of last week may have helped to support the market, analyst Tim
Evans at Citi Futures said in a note.
However, both U.S. total commercial crude stocks and Cushing
inventories are expected to show at least a moderate further build
for the week ended April 17 as a whole, he said.
The oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute is
due later Tuesday, followed by the more closely-watched report from
the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
Market observers are also starting to speculate about the next
OPEC meeting scheduled for June 5 and whether the cartel will make
any changes to its stance of maintaining oil production levels.
"Although it's hard to predict how the views within OPEC may
shift between now and June 5, we think it's not too soon to
consider how different policy options might translate into oil
price levels," Mr. Evans said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to
the Yemeni coast to join a growing fleet of ships keeping watch on
an Iranian flotilla American defense officials suspect may be
carrying arms for Houthi fighters in Yemen.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May--the benchmark
gasoline contract--fell 36 points to $1.9279 a gallon, while May
diesel traded at $1.8770, 1 points lower.
ICE gasoil for May changed hands at $572.50 a metric ton, down
$1.50 from Monday's settlement.
-- Dion Nissenbaum contributed to this article.
Write to Eric Yep at eric.yep@wsj.com