Traders were also doubtful about Opec's ability to implement its plan to cut 1.2 million barrels a day of production or that it would make a significant difference in oil prices.

Testu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo, said that because "huge amounts of oil are available ... I don't think these cuts will have a huge impact.

"We'll have to watch the U.S. winter," when demand for fuel rises, Emori said. "I think the fundamentals of the oil market should be weak. I think the average price of oil will be lower next year."

Light, sweet crude for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2 cents to $58.38 a barrel in electronic trading, after tumbling $2.39 Monday.

Brent crude rose 6 cents to $58.74 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Last week, oil prices surged by $2 a barrel after U.S. Energy Department data showed a large decline in U.S. crude-oil inventories. But some analysts believe the market overreacted to the data by failing to account for the impact of a brief shutdown of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, through which 10 percent of all U.S. oil imports flow.

"Everybody expects a correction this week," said Antoine Halff, an analyst at Fimat USA in New York who warned of the market's misinterpretation of the data in a report last week.