Investing.com - Crude oil prices slid further on Wednesday, reaching their lowest level in around two weeks amid speculation weekly supply data due later in the session will show a large build in U.S. fuel supplies.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report at 10:30AM ET (1430GMT).
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories declined by 4.0 million barrels in the week ended September 29 as refiners raised output.
However, the API report also showed a gain of 4.9 million barrels in gasoline stocks, while distillate stocks fell by 584,000 barrels.
There are often sharp divergences between the API estimates and the official figures from EIA.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dipped 30 cents, or around 0.6%, to $50.12 a barrel by 3:15AM ET (0715GMT). It reached its lowest since Sept. 19 at $49.91 earlier in the session.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., shed 31 cents to $55.69 a barrel.
Crude prices settled at a two-week low on Tuesday to notch their second-losing session in a row as a rise in U.S. drilling and higher OPEC output put the brakes on a rally that helped prices notch their biggest third-quarter gain in 13 years.
Prices have rallied in recent weeks after data showed strong compliance from major producers with their supply cut agreement and a plethora of energy agencies suggested global demand is increasing.
In May, OPEC and non-OPEC members led by Russia agreed to extend production cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day for a period of nine months until March 2018 in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.
However, prices have pulled back around 5% so far this month amid concern that U.S. producers will increase output and possibly ramp up even more quickly to take advantage of recently higher prices.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures held steady at $1.545 a gallon, while heating oil slumped 0.5 cents, or 0.3%, to $1.745 a gallon.
Natural gas futures inched up 2.2 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.917 per million British thermal units.