2019.12.1018:51:00UTC+00Crude Oil Futures Settle Higher Ahead Of Inventory Data

Crude oil futures ended higher on Tuesday despite lingering concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to global economic slowdown and lingering uncertainty about the U.S. and China agreeing on a trade deal before this weekend.

Reports that the U.S. is likely to delay implementing the additional tariffs on about $160 billion of Chinese goods helped pushed up crude oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures for January ended up $0.22, or about 0.4%, at $59.24 a barrel.

Brent Crude oil futures were up marginally at $64.32 a barrel in late afternoon trades.

The Short-Term Energy Outlook report from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. crude production will likely drop to 12.25 million barrels a day in 2019, which is down 0.3% from the November forecast. The EIA has cut its 2020 U.S. output forecast by 0.9% to 13.18 million barrels a day.

The Agency has lifted its 2019 WTI and Brent price forecasts by 0.5% each to $56.74 and $63.93 a barrel, respectively. For 2020, it has raised the price forecasts for WTI and Brent by 0.7% each.

Meanwhile, traders are looking ahead to the weekly crude oil reports from American Petroleum Institute (API) and U.S. Energy Information Administration.

While API's weekly oil report is due later today, the EIA's inventory data will be out Wednesday morning.