Oil futures declined in electronic trading Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported a 4.46 million-barrel climb in US crude supplies for the week ended August 19.
China's crackdown on alleged tax evasion in the oil industry will target independent refineries and follows complaints by state energy giants, in the first major sign of growing tensions between established players and their upstart rivals. It also may lead to a decline in independent refineries' oil demand.
Meanwhile, WTI for October was down 73 cents or 1.52% to trade at $47.37 while global benchmark Brent for October dropped 61 cents or 1.22% to $49.35 per barrel.
Iran confirmed its participation in the OPEC meeting in Algeria, OPEC sources said. And Iraq's prime minister said the country has not yet reached its full oil market share, suggesting his government would not restrain crude output as part of any possible OPEC agreement to lift prices, Reuters reports.
