Oil slips on Iran hopes, rising U.S. stockpiles * U.S. refinery runs rise by 255,000 bpd - API * Major powers, Iran start nuclear talks * Libyas Mellitah port resumes oil exports * Coming up: EIA weekly oil data; Brent oil slipped towards $106 a barrel on Wednesday on optimism over nuclear talks with Iran, a resumption of Libyan oil supply and rising stockpiles in the United States. World powers aim to reach a preliminary agreement to curb Irans nuclear programme in talks resuming in Geneva on Wednesday. A deal may involve easing sanctions on the OPEC producer that could lead to a rise in its crude exports. . Russia is hopeful that the talks will produce a preliminary deal, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not step back from its nuclear rights and his negotiating team had been set limits for the talks. Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB, said the comments from Irans supreme leader were not a great start to the second round of negotiations, but was still optimistic that the talks would yield a positive outcome. I think, despite his statements, the probability of reaching an interim deal looks quite good, Schieldrop said. Brent crude for January was down 35 cents at $106.57 a barrel by 1002 GMT. The contract on Tuesday had posted its biggest daily fall in nearly two weeks as Libya resumed some oil exports. The U.S. crude contract for December, which expires later on Wednesday, was down 13 cents at $93.21 a barrel. It ended the previous session up 0.3 percent after hitting a five-and-a-half-month intraday low of $92.43. Oil exports from Libyas western Mellitah port have resumed after protests ended, allowing a large oilfield to ramp up production and providing some respite from a crisis that has crippled its economy. Most of Libyas oil facilities have been closed since the end of July as disparate groups demanding political rights and benefits have put pressure on the government, helping support the price of crude oil on global markets. RISING STOCKS U.S. commercial crude oil inventories were forecast to have increased last week, while distillate and gasoline stockpiles were seen down, an expanded Reuters poll of analysts showed on Tuesday. Data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday refinery crude runs rose by 255,000 barrels per day last week. Crude inventories rose 512,000 barrels, less than the 900,000-barrel build predicted in the Reuters poll.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 10:49:01 +0000
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