WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices are lower Tuesday morning as concerns over demand growth on the back of weak Chinese factory data outweigh persisting worries about the situation Ukraine.
Traders are looking ahead to weekly crude oil reports. The American Petroleum Institute will come out with weekly oil report later in the day, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its inventory data on Wednesday.
The crisis continues in eastern Ukraine with Russia calling for a ceasefire even as Ukraine is reported to be unwilling to give up the fight against the rebels.
Meanwhile, in clashes between Islamist militants and the Libyan government forces, more than 30 people are reported to have been killed since Monday.
Crude oil futures for October delivery are down $0.79 or 0.82 percent at $95.17 a barrel.
On Friday, crude oil futures had ended up $1.41 or 1.5 percent at $95.96 a barrel on the back of some upbeat U.S. economic data and on a bigger than expected decline in crude oil stockpiles in the previous week. For the week, oil gained nearly 2.5 percent.
Meanwhile, natural gas for October is down $0.040 or 0.97 percent at $4.026 per million btu.
At 9:45 am ET, the results of U.S. manufacturing and non-manufacturing surveys from the Institute of Supply Management will be out.
During the week, traders will be looking ahead to a slew of economic reports including the U.S. non-farm payrolls data for August. The private sector employment report from ADP and weekly jobless claims data are also awaited.
Markets will be focusing on European Central Bank's monetary policy statement, due on Thursday. It is expected that the ECB will announce some monetary easing to revive the sagging eurozone economy.
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