NYMEX February crude settled 87 cents lower at $98.42/barrel Tuesday in low volume, pre-New Year's holiday trade, with the rest of the complex mixed.
ICE February Brent settled 41 cents lower at $110.80/b. In products, NYMEX January ULSD settled unchanged at $3.0772/gal and January RBOB ended down 19 points at $2.7858/gal.
Tim Evans, commodity analyst at Citi Futures Perspective, said petroleum markets were mixed in light volume, pre-holiday trade, "with crude oil traders noting the resumption of some minor volumes of Libyan oil production, but not apparently convinced that the two-day uptrend will hold."
He added that traders are also waiting for weekly US inventory data, with the American Petroleum Institute data due out at later Tuesday.
"Most analysts are looking for a further decline in crude stocks as refiners trim holdings further for year-end, and possible minor builds in product inventories on strong refinery runs and reduced shipping schedules over the holidays," Evans said.
Analysts polled by Platts expect a 1.5 million-barrel draw in crude stocks for the week ended December 27. Gasoline stocks are estimated to rise 2 million barrels and distillate stocks to build by 600,000 barrels.
Daniel Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group said futures were "overbought" and with light volume keeping traders from wanting to press the market any specific direction.
Phil Flynn, also of Price Futures Group, said that NYMEX front-month crude made "one last attempt to go above $100/barrel but backed off as we end the year."
"It was a year that we saw a surge in US oil production and record natural gas production. The shale revolution is starting to dawn on the general public this thing is for real. The real hero of the US economy in 2013 was the US energy industry that single handedly helped inspire an economic comeback," Flynn said in a note.
"Forget the Fed and the politicians in Washington; it was that fact that according to the Energy Information Administration that domestic crude oil and natural gas production is expected to continue [to rise] for many years," he said.
Meanwhile, US consumer confidence jumped in December to 78.1, from a reading of 70.4 in November. Market expectations had been calling for a 76.0 reading.
