Oil eases-off multi-week highs, WTI near $ 40

Oil benchmarks on both sides of Atlantic paused its 2-day rally and dipped this Tuesday, as the traders turned cautious ahead of the API and EIA inventory reports.

Weekly stockpiles reports in focus

Currently both crude benchmarks are seen in the red, with WTI down -0.50% to $ 40.16 while the Brent oil drops -0.44% to $ 42.64. Oil prices ticked lower this session as markets preferred to book profits on their oil longs after two back-to-back sessions of extensive gains, as focus now turns towards the crude stockpiles report from both the API and EIA.

Moreover, a cautious tone prevailed in the markets as traders await the crucial Doha meeting due to be held on Apr 17, with several major oil producers scheduled to discuss the output freeze proposal.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs noted, "A production freeze at recent production levels would not accelerate the rebalancing of the oil market as OPEC (excluding Iran) and Russian production levels have this year remained close to our 2016 average annual forecast of 40.5 million bpd.”

Apart from the weekly inventory reports, all eyes also remain on the OPEC’s monthly report due to be published on Wednesday, while the monthly oil report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) will be released on Thursday.