Investing.com - Oil prices rebounded from the prior session's heavy losses, while gasoline futures eased back from their highest since July 2015, as energy markets continued to weigh the damage from Tropical Storm Harvey.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude October contract was at $46.70 a barrel by 3:45AM ET (0745GMT), up 13 cents, or around 0.3%. It ended down 2.7% on Monday after hitting its lowest level since July 24 at $46.15.
Meanwhile, Brent oil for November delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London tacked on 2 cents to $51.44 a barrel, after sliding 1.1% a day earlier.
Oil futures settled lower on Monday amid worries of reduced demand from refineries.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for October shed 0.8 cents, or roughly 0.5%, to $1.576 a gallon. It rose to the strongest level since July 2015 at $1.618 on Monday.
Massive floods caused by Harvey forced several refineries to close along the U.S. Gulf Coast, while heavy rains were spreading into the greater Houston area, which has already been hit by catastrophic flooding.
The storm, which made landfall on Friday, is poised to regain strength before crashing ashore again near the Texas-Louisiana border Wednesday.
Texas is home to 5.6 million barrels of refining capacity per day, and Louisiana has 3.3 million barrels. Over 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity were estimated to be offline as a result of the storm.
Investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products. Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (2030GMT) later on Tuesday.
Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of around 2.1 million barrels, which would mark the ninth weekly decline in a row.