Oil steadies

NEW YORK. — Oil prices were little changed on Monday as supply disruptions in Iraq dented exports by OPEC’s second-largest producer and US drilling rates showed a slowdown.

Oil exports from southern Iraq have fallen by 110 000 barrels per day this month, according to shipping data and an industry source, adding to the drop in flows caused by a shortfall from the northern Kirkuk fields.

Brent crude LCOc1 settled at $57,37 a barrel, down 38 cents. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 ended the session up 6 cents at $51,90 a barrel.

“It seems like there’s an awful lot of competing drivers . . . and crude seems confused,” said Stewart Glickman, head of energy research at CFRA Research in New York.

“Volatility has actually been tame, and there’s no sustained trend lately that can break us out of this $45-$55 a barrel range.”

But analysts said the reduction in drilling rigs in the United States could prove temporary as activity had been restrained by hurricane threats.

“We think the fall in shale oil activity is an indication of rising costs, higher break-evens outside of geological sweet-spots, falling initial well productivity and cash-flow constraints at unsustainably low prices,” Standard Chartered said in a note.

“However, the turn down in drilling has yet to temper the optimism of most forecasts of US output growth in 2018.” — Reuters.