Most of the oil complex settled lower in light trading Tuesday, with the market looking to the outcome of Wednesday's Iran talks and US Energy Information Administration oil data report for direction.
NYMEX June crude, which slid off the board as the front month at the end of session, settled down 91 cents at $91.66/barrel while ICE July Brent crude settled 40 cents lower at $108.41/b.
NYMEX RBOB, which staged a brief rally to trade higher towards the close of the session, settled 31 points lower at $2.9370/gal.
US retail gasoline demand was down 0.9% year-on-year for the week that ended May 18, according to MasterCard Advisors, although the figure was up from the week prior.
NYMEX heating oil, however, settled higher on the day, rising 11 points to close at $2.8614/gal.
Optimistic news on the Iran front kept downward pressure on both crude contracts throughout the day. Talks of a possible deal in the works between International Atomic Energy Agency and Iranian negotiators cooled somewhat, however, by Tuesday afternoon US time, as Israel warned the IAEA negotiators -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany -- against "weakness" in Wednesday's meeting in Baghdad, according to AFP.
This comes on the back of Monday's US Senate decision to apply a new set of further-reaching sanctions on Iran (See story, 1559 GMT).
Meanwhile, 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) Tuesday will see the release of the American Petroleum Institute's oil data report, which could provide a clue to Wednesday's week-on-week EIA numbers.
US crude oil in storage is expected to increase by 750,000 barrels, according to a Platts survey conducted Monday. However, the five-year average of EIA data shows crude stocks drawing down by around 1 million barrels.
Wednesday should also see an announcement by EU member countries on the ways in which the impact of unpopular austerity measures can be tempered, according to news reports.
