Oil slips as Riyadh, Russia set to raise output

Oil prices yesterday slipped from fouryear highs reached the previous session, pressured by rising US inventories and after sources said Russia and Saudi Arabia struck a private deal in September to raise crude output.

Brent crude oil futures were trading at $86.14 (Dh316.4) per barrel at 0651 GMT, down 15 cents, or 0.2 per cent, from their last close.

Brent on Wednesday hit a four-year high of $86.74 a barrel, lifted by expectations of a tightening market ahead of US sanctions that will target Iran’s oil exports from next month.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 18 cents, or 0.2 per cent, at $76.23 a barrel.

“Data for last week showed a much more significant than expected ... build in US commercial crude (inventories), which generally suggests that oil prices should tumble,” said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore.

US crude oil stocks rose by nearly 8 million barrels last week to about 404 million barrels, the biggest increase since March 2017, Energy Information Administration data showed on Wednesday.