By Neanda Salvaterra

Oil prices were mixed Tuesday, as lower-than-expected inventories buoyed the U.S. crude grade while refinery maintenance in Europe weighed on oil prices in the region.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 0.7% to $65.24 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading up 0.8% at $62.19 a barrel.

Investors are assessing conflicting U.S. data from last week about surging U.S. shale output coupled with a lower than expected build up in U.S. stocks and falling oil inventories at Cushing, Okla., which have declined by nearly 50%, according to analysts at Standard Chartered.

Now refinery maintenance in several regions including Europe is putting a damper demand for crude causing a divergence of the crude grades.

"You still have those low stocks in Cushing supporting WTI on the other hand you have stock builds in the U.S. Gulf," said Olivier Jakob, managing director of Petromatrix, an oil research firm in Switzerland. "There are also some signs of physical pressure in the crude oil market in Europe, partly due to lower crude oil demand due to refinery maintenance."

Still, oil found support last week after resource-rich Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its partnership with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and external producers such as Russia in their efforts to eliminate about 2% of global supply.

Crude prices closed at a one-week high Friday, after having fallen by more than 12% in the first weeks of February, weighed down by concerns of surging U.S. output eclipsing demand as forecast by the International Energy Agency.

OPEC and other analysts have issued differing views from the IEA. Some analysts say that shale may not be enough to meet future demand.

"We are closer to OPEC's numbers," said Paul Horsnell, the head of commodity research at Standard Chartered. "We do see demand exceeding 1.6 million barrels a day for 2018 and we see non-OPEC supply outside North America falling both this year and the next year."

The American Petroleum Institute issues its forecast on the U.S. crude inventory on Wednesday.

Among refined products, Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock -- the benchmark gasoline contract -- was up by 0.46%, at $1.76 a gallon. ICE gas oil, a benchmark for diesel fuel, changed hands at $573.50 a metric ton, down 0.82% from the previous settlement.

Write to Neanda Salvaterra at neanda.salvaterra@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 20, 2018 10:17 ET (15:17 GMT)

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