London — Oil eased on Wednesday, having neared its highest level so far in 2018 after a drop in US crude inventories and the prospect of the loss of Iranian supply added to concerns over the delicate balance between consumption and production. Brent crude futures were last down 23c on the day at $78.83 a barrel by 9.23am GMT, having touched a session peak of $79.66, the highest since late May, when the price broke above $80. US crude futures were up 35c at $69.60 a barrel. "We think oil market fundamentals are increasingly supportive of crude prices, at least at current levels," said Gordon Gray, HSBC's global head of oil and gas equity research. "While we aren't explicitly forecasting Brent to rise to $100 a barrel, we see real risks of this happening. The fact that much higher supply is already needed from the likes of Saudi Arabia — and the low levels of spare capacity remaining — leave the global system highly vulnerable to any further significant outage." US crude stocks fell b...
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