09:09 AM EDT, 06/25/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices moved lower early on Tuesday, pausing gains that have seen the commodity rise 11% over the past three weeks on expected strong summer demand and geopolitical risks.

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was last seen down US$0.49 to US$81.14 per barrel, while August Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down US$0.40 to US$85.61.

The drop comes as the market pauses its bullish run, even as geopolitical risk is on the rise as Ukraine increases attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and Israel continues to press its war on Hamas in Gaza. As well, the European Union is tightening sanctions on Russia and Houthi rebels are continuing missile attacks on Red Sea shipping.

"At a time when there is an expectation of higher-to-be numbers in oil prices, such a sweeping under the carpet of the wider considerations of the conflict is starting to run out of space. Coupled with some ugly developments in Ukraine/Russia, those that are arguing for another charge in oil prices can probably rely on geopolitical issues to run as very decent wingmen," PVM Oil Associates noted.

Traders are also awaiting U.S. inventory data, with the American Petroleum Institute releasing its weekly survey later on Tuesday afternoon, followed a day later with official data from the Energy Information Administration.

"We are forecasting US crude inventories up 5.3 (million barrels) for the week ending June 21. This compares to a 2.5 MM BBL draw for the week ending June 14, with the total US crude balance again realizing looser than we had anticipated last week," Walt Chancellor, an energy strategist at Macquarie Group, noted.