(Reuters) – Oil prices extended their declines for a third straight day on Friday, after a smaller-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories dampened demand expectations and as concerns over supplies from Libya may cap losses.
At 10:50 a.m., Brent crude futures were down 49 cents, or 0.62%, at $78.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were down 38 cents, or 0.51%, at $74.14.
Both contracts fell more than 1% yesterday after data showed U.S. crude inventories fell by 846,000 barrels to 425.2 million last week, missing analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a decline of 2.3 million. [EIA/S]
Supply issues from Libya, amid rising geopolitical concerns, will keep oil markets on edge and likely limit price downside, said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.
Some oil fields in Libya have halted production due to a dispute over control of the central bank, and one consultancy has estimated production disruptions of between 900,000 and 1 million barrels per day (bpd) for several weeks.
Libyan production in July was approximately 1.18 million bpd.
(Translated by Chiara Scarciglia, edited by Stefano Bernabei)
