On Tuesday, oil futures on West Texas Intermediate are getting sharply lower, as market players are preparing for the publication of weekly data on stocks of crude oil and oil products in the United States to gauge the strength of demand in the world's largest consumer of oil.
During European morning trade, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude oil for November delivery lost $ 1.00, or 2.13%, getting to $ 45.96 for a barrel.
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 September 18, by 1.0 million barrels.
A day earlier, the price of oil on the Nymex soared $ 1.94, or 4.31%, amid signs that the US oil drillers cut production after the collapse of prices in the summer.
On Friday evening, the research group of Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) oil company announced that the number of drilling rigs in the US fell last week by eight to 644, demonstrating a decline third week in a row.
On the ICE exchange in London, Brent crude for November delivery fell 70 cents, or 1.43%, to $ 48.22 for a barrel.
On Monday, the futures for Brent crude rose $ 1.45, or 3.05%, as traders predict a further decline in oil production in the world.
Crude oil prices have lost nearly 60% since last summer, as fears of over-saturation of the world market brought down the prices of raw materials.
The oil offer on the world market is still ahead of demand due to the boom in shale oil in the US and after the adoption last year of OPEC's decision not to cut production.
Today, the spread between Brent and WTI oil consists $ 2.26 per barrel compared with $ 1.96 at the close of the previous session.
Investors are awaiting the publication on Wednesday of Chinese manufacturing data as well as data on the Eurozone's private sector to get a fresh indication of the state of the global economy.