Oil prices settle little changed ahead of U.S. inventories data

 Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as investors awaited data on U.S. crude stockpiles.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery settled unchanged at 42.89 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery rose 9 cents to close at 45.46 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The moves followed an upbeat session that saw the WTI and Brent gain 2.09 percent and 1.27 percent, respectively, on Monday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is set to release its weekly petroleum status report on Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA data to show U.S. crude supplies fell 3.8 million barrels last week.

Crude prices found some support from reports that compliance with the agreed production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, or commonly known as OPEC+, was between 94 percent and 97 percent in July.

The OPEC+ scaled back their record production cuts to 7.7 million barrels per day starting from August.