NEW YORK, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) — Oil prices ended slightly lower Tuesday, as traders continued to assess the impact of a preliminary deal on output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Oil prices gained about 10 percent in the past five sessions after the OPEC reached an agreement last Wednesday to ceil oil output from 33.24 million barrels a day to a range of 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day.
The group’ s oil ministers are expected to hammer out the final details of an agreement at their next official meeting on Nov. 30 in Vienna.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil inventory data was also in focus, which is expected for release Wednesday afternoon. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a climb of 2 million barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ended Sept. 30.
The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery fell 12 cents to settle at 48.81 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery decreased 2 cents to close at 50.87 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.