On Tuesday, oil futures of West Texas Intermediate dropped in value, as market participants are preparing for the publication of fresh data on crude oil stocks and petroleum products in the United States, to gauge the strength of demand in the world's largest consumer.
During European morning trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange WTI, crude oil for August delivery fell 27 cents, or 0.44%, being traded at $ 60.12 for a barrel. A day earlier, NYMEX oil increased 41 cents, or 0.68%, to $ 60.38.
The American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release its report on stocks today, while government data, expected on Wednesday, may show the reduction of oil reserves, for the week ending June 19, by 1.8 million barrels per day.
Concerns about the high level of oil production in the United States, despite the reduction in the number of drilling rigs, are putting pressure on prices in recent weeks.
The research group Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) announced that the number of oil drilling rigs in the United States decreased by 4 last week to 631, getting cut 28 consecutive weeks.
However, oil production in the US is about 9.6 million barrels per day, which is the high since the beginning of the 1970s.
At the stock exchange ICE in London, Brent crude oil for August delivery fell 5 cents, or 0.08%, to $ 63.29 for a barrel. On Monday, Brent crude oil rose in price by 32 cents, or 0.51%, to close at $ 63.34.
Today, the spread between oil Brent and WTI is $ 3.17 per barrel compared with $ 2.96 at the close of the previous session.
Meanwhile, investors continue to monitor the progress of debt negotiations between Greece and its international creditors on hopes that an agreement will soon be reached.
At the end of an emergency meeting on Monday euro zone finance ministers failed to reach an agreement to save Greece, but they noted that a final agreement can be signed later this week.
The head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, reported that the new proposals for reforms, submitted by the Greek government, are "broad and comprehensive" and will become a good basis for the resumption of the stalled negotiations.
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, warned that there is still a lot of work.
The program of financial aid to Greece expires on 30 June, while the Athens must pay the IMF about 1.6 billion euro by that date. Greek default could trigger the country's withdrawal from the euro zone.