adminSINGAPORE — Brent crude fell for a third day yesterday, slipping further below $97 a barrel as inflated supplies and weak economic data from Europe outweighed rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The European economic data and a rise in oil exports from Iraq and Nigeria overshadowed a boost from China with Tuesday’s release of a better-than-expected flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for September. US air strikes on militants in Syria also failed to lift prices.
Brent for November delivery fell 13c to $96,72 a barrel by 5.07am GMT, although US crude edged up 8c to $91,64 a barrel.
“Oil prices did not really gather the support coming from China’s manufacturing data from yesterday as softer European manufacturing data followed,” said Ben Le Brun, a market analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney.
The European Central Bank faces an uphill task to spur growth as eurozone business activity expanded at a slightly weaker pace than expected in September as firms cut prices for the 30th month in a row, a survey showed on Tuesday.
Manufacturing and services output in the bloc’s top two economies, Germany and France, has also slowed. August crude inventories in China, excluding strategic reserves, were higher than the previous month.
China’s 2015 economic growth, however, is expected to be “well above” 7 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund yesterday.
But for now, oil prices are under pressure and even US manufacturing activity, which held near a four-and-a-half-year high this month, and tensions in the Middle East have failed to turn the market around.
The US and Arab allies bombed militant groups in Syria for the first time on Tuesday, killing scores of Islamic State fighters. Libya is producing 800 000 barrels per day (bpd), up about 14 percent from Sunday, after the El Sharara oil field restarted production.
Exports from Iraq’s southern terminals have averaged 2.58-million bpd, according to shipping data for the first 23 days of September tracked by Reuters, up from August’s average of 2,38 million.
Nigeria’s oil exports are expected to hit a 14-month high in November, adding more light, sweet crude oil to an already well-supplied market.
In the US, investors were waiting for weekly oil inventories data from the Energy Information Administration later yesterday for indications about demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
“We do not expect this rise in prices to continue,” it added. – Reuters.
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