NYMEX refined product futures settled lower Tuesday on concerns about the global economy, while a report that the International Energy Agency cut its estimates of world oil demand in 2012 and 2013 also weighed on the complex.
December heating oil settled 3.84 cents lower at $2.9608/gal and December RBOB settled 2.25 cents lower at $2.6538/gal.
December crude settled down 19 cents at $85.38/barrel; ICE December was 81 cents lower at $108.26/b.
"This morning the economic news wasn't the best as there was no agreement on the Greek bailout plan so there is still that uncertainty," said Phyllis Nystrom, branch manager of CHS Hedging.
Eurozone ministers failed to clear the aid payment for Greece worth EUR31 billion and will hold another meeting next Tuesday on the issue.
Nystrom said volume was light throughout the session as NYMEX crude remained within a 50-cent trading range.
"The market had no legs," Nystrom said. "The US dollar was higher, which had a marginal effect but the market started low and remained near those same levels throughout the session."
Also adding to the downside was the IEA, which trimmed its estimate for world oil demand due to ongoing doubts over the health of the global economy and in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's impact in the US.
In its latest monthly oil report, the IEA cut its forecast for global oil demand in 2012 by 80,000 b/d to 89.59 million b/d and lowered its estimate for 2013 by 70,000 b/d to 90.42 million b/d.
For refined products, the return of petroleum terminals in the Northeast following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy put downside pressure on RBOB and heating oil.
Five petroleum terminals in New York and New Jersey were still shut two weeks after the hurricane, the US Department of Energy said Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, Hess and Motiva had reopened their terminals in Newark, New Jersey. A total of 52 terminals along the East Coast have reopened, according to DOE.
"Refineries are also starting back up so the flow is getting back to normal," Nystrom said.
Crude futures were also weighed down by the return of the UK's Buzzard Field, which restarted Monday after an unplanned outage over the weekend.
Production was forecast to average 108,000 b/d Tuesday, a little under half the field's nameplate capacity of 220,000 b/d.
