Oil futures extended to the downside in Asian trade on Tuesday following downbeat trade data from China, the world's second biggest crude buyer and as traders eyed an industry report.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded 0.22 percent lower at $49.28 per barrel as of 06:50 GMT, while the London based Brent contracts on the ICE Futures Exchange in London were down 0.27 percent to $52.23 a barrel.

Earlier in the session, China said trade surplus moved to $46.74 billion in July, above from an initially forecasted $46.08 billion and a prior $42.77 billion.

Exports rose 7.2 percent and imports 11.0 percent last month. Both figures fell short from expected values. Analysts had predicted a 10.9 percent and 16.6 percent increase respectively.

China’s authorities reported a 12 percent jump on yearly basis to 8.16 million barrels per day, although these results left imports at a seven month low in July.

Ahead today, market participants are waiting for crude stockpiles from the American Petroleum Institute in anticipation to official inventories from US Energy Information Administration.

Crude benchmarks settled in red territory on Monday as renewed concerns over OPEC’s ability to counteract the ongoing supply overhang seemed to weighing hard on prices.

Investors are keeping their eyes wide open as leaders of the oil cartel gathered in Abu Dhabi to discuss a possible extension of output cut volumes to power up the agreement.

Last week, US shale oil production rose to 9.43 million barrels per day, marking its largest output level since 2015, adding a surprising 12 percent since June.

According to Reuters, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries produced 33 million barrels per day in July, its highest level in 2017, up 90,000 bpd from its prior reading.