Crude oil futures slipped but remained near the $55 a barrel mark Tuesday on the possibility of an OPEC output rise, but the weakness was tempered by Saudi Arabia’s projection of a substantial demand increase later this year.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 12 cents to $54.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. Heating oil prices edged lower to $1.5335 a gallon.
Brent crude fell 9 cents to $53.57 on London’s International Petroleum Exchange.
