Oil resumes slides, despite US-Iranian sabre-rattling
A surprise increase in US inventories has added to concern about rising Opec and Russian supplies, and fear that trade tension could hit demand
London — Oil prices fell for a third day on Thursday, following a surprise increase in US crude inventories that added to existing concern about the rapid rise in global crude supply. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have increased production, as agreed at a meeting in June, to help compensate for an anticipated shortfall in Iranian crude supplies once US sanctions come into force later this year. After earlier recovering from overnight falls, Brent crude futures were last quoted down 32c at $72.07 a barrel, while US crude futures fell 55c to $67.11. "There’s been a lot of bearish news over the last week. We’ve seen the Opec July numbers increasing quite drastically month-on-month and, along with that, Russian production back at pre-deal levels," ING commodities strategist Warren Patterson said. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners including Russia agreed in late 2016 to cut output by 1.8-million barrels a day to rebalance suppl...
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