Crude oil futures extended their losses into a second session Tuesday, sending prices to their lowest finish in almost three weeks as strength in the US dollar and tepid equities hurt sentiments. The commodity ended near $52 levels.MCX Crude also closed just above Rs 3500 per barrel levels. The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventories data recorded a build of 6.5mn in the week ending January 27th. Cushing inventories recorded a build of 530,000 barrels compared with an expected draw for the week. 

Gasoline inventories registered a build of 3.87 million (mn) barrels compared with an expected build of 0.98mn, while distillate recorded a build of 1.57mn barrels. There was a small decline in capacity use of 0.1%, while crude production declines to 8.92mn bpd from 8.96mn the previous week.

Oil could still witness profit selling on rallies. Data from Baker Huges revealed that the number of active US rigs drilling for oil rose by 17 to 583 rigs. The total active US rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also rose by 17 to 729, according to Baker Hughes. This is the highest rig count since October 2015.