Singapore — Oil prices fell early on Monday as Iraq said it wanted to be exempt from any deal by producer cartel Opec to cut production to prop up the market, and as US drillers stepped up work. Brent crude futures were trading at $51.59 per barrel at 1.33am GMT, down 19c, or 0.4%, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 22c, or 0.4%, at $50.63 a barrel. Traders said the price falls followed comments from Iraq, which said it wanted to be exempt from a production cut by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) that the group plans to decide at its November 30 meeting. Opec plans to reduce production to a range of 32.5-million to 33-million barrels a day, down from 33.39-million barrels a day in September. That would be harder to achieve if Iraq, which is Opec’s second-biggest producer after Saudi Arabia, didn’t participate. Iraq said on Sunday that its oil production stood at 4.774-million barrels a day, with exports standing at 3.87...
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