Investing.com - Oil prices bounced back on Tuesday following a sharp decline of 3% in the prior session as risk assets recovered their appeal and a supply outage in Libya continued to support prices ahead of U.S. inventory data.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained $1.16, or 2.27%, at $52.16 a barrel by 10:13 AM ET (15:13 GMT).
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., traded up 85 cents, or 1.42%, to $60.82.
Investors put risk back on the table on Tuesday with U.S. stocks also on the rise as Washington and Beijing began the latest round of trade talks during a telephone call between U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that talks were "very productive” and promised that “important announcements” were on the way.
The president’s tweet came after Bloomberg reported that China is considering cutting its tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles, fueling hopes that amicable negotiations may be capable of avoiding a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Also supporting crude prices, the shutdown at Libya’s El Sharara oilfield after a militia takeover eased fears of oversupply as output was estimated to be hit by 315,000 barrels per day (bpd), with an additional loss of 73,000 bpd, according to Reuters.
Amid concerns of oversupply, traders will keep a close eye on U.S. inventories. The American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report for the week ended December 7 at 4:30PM ET (21:30 GMT), amid expectations of a drop of about 2.9 million barrels.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures rose 1.18% to $1.4375 a gallon by 10:16 AM ET (15:16 GMT), while heating oil advanced 0.85% to $1.8598 a gallon.
Lastly, natural gas futures traded down 3.39% to $4.391 per million British thermal units.