ND: Crude-Oil Prices Ease Ahead of Weekly Supply Data
--U.S. oil stockpiles expected to show an increase of 1.6 million barrels
--Gap between Nymex and Brent crude futures moves toward widest point since spring
--Traders take profits from Monday's rise in Brent contract
NEW YORK--Oil prices declined slightly Tuesday, as traders anticipated another increase in U.S. crude stockpiles and took profits from Monday's rise in the global Brent contract.
December futures for the benchmark U.S. contract were down 70 cents, or 0.7%, at $97.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for December delivery was down 59 cents, or 0.6%, at $109.02 on the ICE futures exchange. The gap between the two contracts was $11.04, moving toward the widest point since the spring as their underlying fundamentals have diverged.
Brent fell as analysts said a protest at the El Sharara field in Libya could end as early as today. Libyan production has fallen below 300,000 barrels per day since the protest began Sunday, and Sharara accounts for about 20% of the country's output. The disruption is thought to have little impact on the global supply-demand balance in the short term, but "if the Libyan outage persists beyond the next week or two, the situation could become much more serious," JBC Energy said in a note.
In the U.S., analysts expect Wednesday's weekly government survey of oil inventories to show a rise of 1.6 million barrels from the previous week, marking the sixth consecutive increase. Supplies have been building as a result of robust domestic production and seasonal maintenance that has reduced refinery demand, though it is expected to pick up again soon.
Trading was light as the market awaits news from the two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which started Tuesday. The market is looking for any new information about the Federal Reserve's $85 billion-a-month bond- buying program, which is viewed as having supported oil prices along with stocks and other assets.
Prices on the Nymex for New York Harbor gasoline were down 3 cents, or 1.1% at $2.58 per gallon, while November heating oil was off 1 cent, or 0.5%, at $2.95 a gallon.
Write to Christian Berthelsen at christian.berthelsen@wsj.com
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