Oil steadies

LONDON. —Global benchmark Brent crude oil hit a three-month low yesterday as worries over supply disruptions eased and the focus moved to increasing production and potential damage to global growth from the US-China trade dispute.

Benchmark Brent crude oil LCOc1 fell 49 cents to an intraday low of $71,35 a barrel, its lowest since April 17, before recovering to around $71,74, down 10 cents, by 1330 GMT. Brent fell 4,6 percent on Monday. US light crude CLc1 was 80 cents lower at $67,26 a barrel. It lost 4,2 percent on Monday.

“The perception in the oil market seems to be shifting,” Carsten Menke, commodity research analyst at Swiss private bank Julius Baer, said.

“Fears of shortages, which pushed prices as high as $80 per barrel in early summer, are receding and concerns about looming surpluses growing.”

Oil prices have fallen by almost 10 percent over the last week as crude export terminals in Libya have reopened and exports from other OPEC countries and Russia have increased.

Production from seven major US shale oil formations is expected to rise by 143 000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 7,47 million bpd in August, the US Energy Information Administration said on Monday.

Output is expected to rise in all seven formations. All shale regions except for Appalachia are at a high.

Also undermining prices is concern the growing trade war between the United States and other major trading blocs, particularly China, could dampen economic activity and hence squeeze oil demand.