Crude price gains ahead of supply report

U.S. crude price inched up Tuesday as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release a report about the crude inventories of the country Wednesday.

The Energy Department's statistical arm will release its report about last week's U.S. crude supplies. Market believed that the EIA data would show U.S. crude supplies decreased 1.5 million barrels in the week.

On the economic front, U.S. small business optimism bumped up in August. The small business optimism index rose 0.4 point to 96. 1 in the past month, making it the second highest reading since October 2007, said the National Federation of Independent Business.

Moreover, U.S. job openings in July came out at 4.7 million, little changed from June, said the U.S. Labor Department.

The ample supplies continued to weigh on the Brent crude price, which is more sensitive to the global supplies.

The National Oil Corporation of Libya said Monday the country is pumping 740,000 barrels crude a day, compared with a monthly average of 400,000 a day in July.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery moved up 9 cents to settle at 92.75 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery gained 1.04 dollars to close at 99.16 dollars a barrel.