WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After tumbling to a two-week low in the previous session, crude oil prices rebounded strongly on Tuesday, riding on news that the United States sanctioned Venezuela's state-owned oil company, in an effort to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to cede power to rival Juan Guaidó.
Meanwhile, demand growth concerns still persist due to ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies.
Traders continue to express uncertainty about trade talks between the U.S. and China after the Justice Department unsealed sweeping criminal charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei and its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended up $1.32, or 2.5%, at $53.31 a barrel.
On Monday, crude oil futures for March ended down $1.70, or 3.2%, at $51.99 a barrel.
Brent Crude futures were gaining $1.30, or 2.2%, at 61.23 a barrel.
A jump in U.S. oil rigs count in the week ended January 25th and the consistent rise in U.S. crude output weighed on the commodity on Monday. Concerns about economic slowdown in China, where profits of industrial companies shrank for a second straight month in December, contributed as well to oil's slide.
Traders were looking ahead to weekly oil reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The API is scheduled to release its weekly oil report later in the day, while the official data from EIA will be out Wednesday morning.
Last week, the EIA data showed crude inventories increased by 7.97 million barrels in the week ended January 18. EIA also said that gasoline stockpiles saw an increase of 4.05 million barrels in the week, rising to a record high of 259.6 million barrels.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
