REUTERS
Official U.S. government oil production and inventory data is due later on Wednesday.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday, pulled down by swelling U.S. inventories and a plunge in global stock markets as China's government warned of increasing economic headwinds.
International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $60.87 per barrel at 0508 GMT, down $1.21, or 2 percent, from their last close, Reuters reported.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $52.33 per barrel, down 92 cents, or 1.7 percent.
Reuters technical commodity analyst Wang Tao said WTI could soon test support at $51.75 per barrel, while Brent was threatening to drop below $60 per barrel again soon.
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Oil prices were pressured by a weekly report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that said U.S. crude inventories rose by 5.4 million barrels in the week to November 30, to 448 million barrels, in a sign that U.S. oil markets are in a growing glut.
Official U.S. government oil production and inventory data is due later on Wednesday.
More broadly, the slide in U.S. oil followed a tumble in global stock markets on Tuesday, with investors worried about the threat of a widespread economic slowdown.
Key to the global economic outlook will be whether the United States and China can resolve their trade disputes. Washington and Beijing announced a 90-day truce last weekend, during which neither side will further increase punitive import tariffs.
In a sign of easing tensions between the two world's biggest economies, Chinese oil trader Unipec plans to resume U.S. crude shipments to China by March after the Xi-Trump deal at the G20 meeting reduced the risk of tariffs being imposed on these imports, people with knowledge of the matter said.