Oil eases after September surge

Opec pumps more oil while Libya’s biggest field restarts after brief halt

HONG KONG: Oil edged lower for a second day after a price surge last month as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) output climbed marginally led by gains from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Futures lost 0.3% in New York after dropping 2.1% on Monday. Opec pumped 32.83 million barrels a day in September, up 120,000 barrels a day from August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Libyan production is set to recover from a five-month low as the nation’s biggest field restarts following a brief halt.

Oil in September capped the biggest monthly advance since April 2016 after entering a bull market on forecasts for rising demand and as Turkey said it may halt Kurdish exports through its territory.

US crude inventories probably extended declines last week, falling by a projected 500,000 barrels, according to a Bloomberg survey before a government report on Wednesday.

“The market appears to be on hold at the moment,” said David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney.

“Higher prices will probably lead to an upward trend in US output and keep a lid on oil.

“As long as Opec continues to comply with its cuts, that will provide some support to the price.”

West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was at US$50.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 15 US cents, at 7.45am in London.

Total volume traded was about 67% below the 100-day average. Prices slid US$1.09 to US$50.58 on Monday after advancing 9.4% last month.

Brent for December settlement fell 25 US cents to US$55.87 a barrel on the Londonbased ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Prices lost US$1.42, or 2.5%, to US$56.12 on Monday. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of US$5.13 to December WTI.

Saudi Arabia, Opec’s biggest producer, boosted production by 60,000 barrels a day to 10.06 million barrels.

Gulf neighbour Kuwait lifted output by 50,000 barrels to 2.76 million barrels a day, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data.

Libyan output is expected to expand to 1 million barrels a day from 800,000 within two to three days as the Sharara field restarts, National Oil Corp chairman Mustafa Sanalla said on Monday in a televised interview on Libya TV.