Oil fell a fourth day after Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC may need a higher output quota and the U.S. issued more exemptions from sanctions for buying Iran’s crude, reducing the risk of supply disruption. Futures slid as much as 2 percent after closing at an eight-month low yesterday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries “maybe� needs to raise its output ceiling above 30 million barrels a day, al-Naimi said in Vienna. The U.S. added six countries and Taiwan to its list of exemptions, saying they “significantly reduced� their purchases of Iranian crude. U.S. gasoline stockpiles probably climbed to the highest level in five weeks, a Bloomberg News survey showed. “There’s no Middle Eastern premium being built in, it’s all about the lack of demand and inventory builds,� said Jonathan Barratt, chief executive officer of Barratt’s Bulletin, a commodity-markets newsletter in Sydney. Al-Naimi’s comments indicate “that there’s a concerted effort to drive prices lower to help stimulate the economy,� he said. Oil for July delivery dropped as much as $1.63 to $81.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $82.17 at 2:28 p.m. Sydney time. The contract declined 1.7 percent to $82.70 yesterday, the lowest close since Oct. 6. Prices are down 17 percent this year. Brent oil for July settlement slipped 25 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $97.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract’s premium to West Texas Intermediate was at $15.59, compared with $15.30 yesterday. OPEC Meeting Oil is extending losses in New York after a so-called bearish engulfing pattern formed on the daily candlestick chart, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Crude’s 50-day moving average, at $96.42 a barrel today, has erased its premium to the 200-day mean, signaling a possible “death cross� formation. Investors typically sell contracts when a shorter moving average falls below a longer one. Saudi Arabia’s analysis suggests OPEC needs a higher production ceiling, the Gulf Oil Review cited al-Naimi as saying in a June 2 to June 3 interview. The minister, who arrived in Vienna yesterday, responded to the article by telling reporters that he said “maybe� the quota needs to be increased. OPEC, which supplies 40 percent of the world’s crude, meets in the Austrian capital June 14 to decide on output levels for the second half of the year. Its 12 members exceeded the ceiling by 1.9 million barrels a day in April, according to the International Energy Agency. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, has pumped more than 9.5 million barrels a day since June 2011, the longest stretch for at least 11 years, data from the U.S. Energy Department show. Iran Sanctions The U.S. added India, Malaysia, South Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan to the list of exemptions from sanctions after they reduced crude purchases from Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Clinton announced in March that Japan and 10 European Union nations had qualified for an exemption for a renewable period of 180 days. India and South Korea were the third- and fourth-largest buyers of Iran’s oil in the first half of last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. China, the Persian Gulf nation’s biggest customer for crude, and Singapore, Asia’s oil- trading hub, were not exempted from the sanctions, which are targeted at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. Officials in Singapore didn’t reply immediately to an e- mail seeking a comment on the government’s response to the U.S. Countries have until June 28 to demonstrate they have “significantly reduced� purchases from the Islamic Republic, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, or their banks that settle the oil trades may be cut off from the U.S. financial system. U.S. Stockpiles U.S. gasoline inventories rose 1.5 million barrels last week to 205 million, the highest level since the period ended May 4, according to the median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News before an Energy Department report tomorrow. Crude stockpiles probably dropped by 1.5 million barrels, the survey showed. The American Petroleum Institute will release separate inventory data today. The API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department for its weekly survey. To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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