Oil flat in choppy trade as investors weigh Russia sanctions, glut forecasts

Oil prices were flat on Tuesday in a choppy session as traders weighed the impact of Western sanctions on Russian oil flows against an expected supply surplus next year.

Brent crude was down 9 cents, or 0.14%, at $64.11 a barrel at 11:27 a.m. EDT (1628 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $59.97. Both benchmarks were trading about 1% lower earlier in the session.

“We are in a tight trading range right now, the market is on hold until we get some inventory numbers,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group.

Investors await U.S. oil stock data from the American Petroleum Institute, due at around 4:30 p.m. EDT.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury said sanctions imposed in October on Rosneft  and Lukoil, are already squeezing Russia's oil revenue and are expected to curb its export volumes over time.

"Traders weighed the impact of a growing global surplus against U.S. sanctions that are disrupting Russian crude flows," said MUFG analyst Soojin Kim.