 "Oil eases below four-year highs; U.S. inventory rise expected")
By Jessica Resnick-Ault
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices eased slightly on Tuesday, remaining close to four-year highs on worries that global supplies will drop due to Washington’s sanctions on Iran.
“This is the market catching its breath,” said Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. The market steadied after rallying in three consecutive sessions.
Still, oil prices drew support from worries that Iranian production will drop sharply after U.S. sanctions go into effect on Nov. 4. Also, global demand has remained strong in the face of trade tensions.
Brent fell 31 cents to $84.67 per barrel by 2:13 p.m. EDT (1813 GMT), a day after reaching a four-year high of $85.45. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were 25 cents lower at $75.05 a barrel, after earlier touching a four-year high of $75.91.
Analysts polled by Reuters forecast that U.S. crude stocks rose about 2 million barrels last week ahead of data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) at 4:30 p.m. and from the U.S. government on Wednesday morning.
Crude prices have roughly tripled from lows hit in January 2016 after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia cut output.
Oil market sentiment was lifted by a last-gasp deal on Sunday to salvage NAFTA as a trilateral pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Prices have also been buoyed by looming U.S. sanctions against Iran’s oil industry, which at its peak this year supplied nearly 3 percent of the world’s daily consumption.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsA Reuters survey of OPEC production found Iranian output in September fell by 100,000 barrels per day, while production from the group as a whole rose by 90,000 bpd from August.
HSBC said in its fourth-quarter Global Economics outlook that “our oil analysts believe there is now a growing risk it (crude) could touch $100 per barrel.”
Many analysts say OPEC will struggle to cover a decline in exports from Iran. Britain’s Barclays bank, however, said “OPEC has ample spare capacity.”
Soaring crude prices and weak emerging market currencies may erode economic growth.
“Softening demand growth and new supply should cool the bullish sentiment and push prices lower by the end of the year,” Barclays said.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Ahmad Ghaddar in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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