Brent crude traded near its lowest closing level in more than a week as protesters in Libya said they were prepared to resume work at the Al Sharara oil field after a three-month halt.
Brent slipped as much as 0.5 percent after rising by the same amount earlier today. Demonstrators at the 300,000 barrel-a-day Al Sharara site in Libya, holder of Africa’s biggest oil reserves, said they suspended protests for two weeks as of yesterday after an agreement with the country’s defense minister. U.S. crude inventories probably fell for a fifth week, a Bloomberg survey showed before data tomorrow.
“That’s the most positive Libya headline we’ve had in a while,” Amrita Sen, chief oil market strategist at Energy Aspects Ltd., a researcher in London, said today by e-mail.
Brent for February settlement dropped as much as 55 cents to $110.25 a barrel and was at $110.37 as of 11:43 a.m. on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It settled at $110.80 on Dec. 31, the lowest close since Dec. 19. The European benchmark crude was at a $12.10 premium to West Texas Intermediate, compared with $12.20 on Dec. 31. Brent slipped 0.3 percent in 2013, the first annual decline in five years.
WTI for February delivery fell as much as 30 cents to $98.12 a barrel in electronic trading on theNew York Mercantile Exchange and was at $98.28. It fell 87 cents to $98.42 on Dec. 31. The volume of all contracts traded was about 47 percent below the 100-day average.
Brent slipped as much as 0.5 percent after rising by the same amount earlier today. Demonstrators at the 300,000 barrel-a-day Al Sharara site in Libya, holder of Africa’s biggest oil reserves, said they suspended protests for two weeks as of yesterday after an agreement with the country’s defense minister. U.S. crude inventories probably fell for a fifth week, a Bloomberg survey showed before data tomorrow.
“That’s the most positive Libya headline we’ve had in a while,” Amrita Sen, chief oil market strategist at Energy Aspects Ltd., a researcher in London, said today by e-mail.
Brent for February settlement dropped as much as 55 cents to $110.25 a barrel and was at $110.37 as of 11:43 a.m. on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It settled at $110.80 on Dec. 31, the lowest close since Dec. 19. The European benchmark crude was at a $12.10 premium to West Texas Intermediate, compared with $12.20 on Dec. 31. Brent slipped 0.3 percent in 2013, the first annual decline in five years.
WTI for February delivery fell as much as 30 cents to $98.12 a barrel in electronic trading on theNew York Mercantile Exchange and was at $98.28. It fell 87 cents to $98.42 on Dec. 31. The volume of all contracts traded was about 47 percent below the 100-day average.
