Oil prices fall

LONDON. — Oil prices fell yesterday, pulled down by caution that rising US crude output could scupper a rally that lasted for most of the third quarter.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were at $50,25 per barrel at 1114 GMT, down 17 cents from their last close. They fell below $50 earlier in the session.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 24 cents at $55,76 a barrel. Earlier in the day, they fell as low as $55,38.

The drop came amid worries that a third-quarter rally that lifted Brent to mid-2015 highs by late September had been overdone. A resumption in output at Libya's Sharara oilfield added to the concerns.

“Fundamentals may not yet be strong enough to support a continued rally, especially in growth-dependent commodities such as oil,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Denmark's Saxo Bank, said in a quarterly outlook to investors.

The Sharara oilfield restarted on Wednesday. It had been producing more than 230 000 barrels per day (bpd) before armed brigades closed it on Sunday. Still, market observers said a so-called rebalancing is well underway, meaning demand is no longer undershooting available supply.

The rebalancing is a result of strong consumption and also efforts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output by around 1,8 million bpd in 2017 and the first quarter of next year. Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he did not exclude an extension of the cuts until the end of 2018. Russia is part of the supply agreement. But rising oil production in the United States, which is not involved in the deal, has prevented prices from climbing further.