Crude oil futures settled modestly higher Tuesday as analysts expected that an Energy Department report tomorrow would show US inventories decline.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude oil futures for September delivery rose 20 cents to end at 59.20 dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, on London's International Petroleum Exchange, the September Brent crude-oil futures contract added 17 cents to finish at 58.03 dollars per barrel.

On Tuesday, a survey showed that US oil stockpiles probably fell 2.75 million barrels in the week ended July 22 from 320.1 million barrels the previous week. Refineries probably operated at 94.55 percent of capacity, up 1.75 percentage points from the week before.

The International Energy Agency also reported that global oil consumption would reach 85.9 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter of this year. That would be 2 million barrels a day, or 2. 4 percent, higher than during the same period in 2004.

Source: Xinhua