NEW YORK, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices settled mildly lower Tuesday as investors awaited reports on U.S. crude stockpiles scheduled for release Wednesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its weekly data about the country's oil inventories Wednesday. According to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey, U.S. oil inventories probably fell by 500,000 barrels last week.
Investors became cautious after a solid third-quarter gain. Oil prices witnessed sharp increases in the third quarter of 2017, with Brent crude jumping about 20 percent, marking the biggest quarterly increase since 2004, amid signs of rebalancing between supply and demand.
The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery decreased 0.16 U.S. dollar to settle at 50.42 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery lost 0.12 dollar to close at 56.00 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
