London — Brent oil eased on Wednesday following a report of a possible increase in Nigerian exports, but an unexpected drop in US crude inventories helped keep the price within sight of this week’s 26-month highs. Turkey’s repeated threat to cut oil exports from the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq pushed the price close to $60 a barrel on Monday for the first time since June 2015. Brent November crude futures were down 14c at $58.30 a barrel at 8.32am GMT, while US crude for November delivery edged up 11c to $51.99. Traders and analysts said a report from pricing agency Platts that a force majeure on exports of Bonny Light crude, scheduled to be 161,000 barrels a day this month, could be lifted "very soon" was behind the loss in Brent. However, Brent is set for a 22% gain in the third quarter of this year, its largest rise in the period between July and September since 2004, thanks in part to co-ordinated output cuts. Oil cartel Opec and 11 rival producers, including Russia, have ...
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