Oil prices drop before US data

World oil prices retreated today ahead of the latest official reading on crude stockpiles in main consumer United States.
Prices had surged yesterday on heightened geopolitical tensions sparked by Turkey's shooting down of a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border.
Analysts warned that further escalation could affect crude supplies from the oil-producing Middle East, noting however that the world was currently experiencing a supply glut that has caused prices to slump over the past 18 months.
The US Department of Energy was today to publish weekly data on commercial energy inventories in the world's biggest economy.
At around 1800 IST, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January was down 45 cents at USD 42.42 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for January shed 67 cents compared with yesterday's close to USD 45.45 a barrel.
Traders were looking ahead also to next week's OPEC meeting for signs on whether the oil-producing cartel would slash high production levels.
"An agreement to cut the production target will definitely be a booster for oil prices," Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore, told AFP.