TOKYO: Brent crude edged below $109 on Wednesday, as worries about disruption to petroleum exports by OPEC member Libya eased a little, while a bigger-than-expected increase in inventories weighed on US oil futures. Traders were looking ahead to comments from a US Federal Reserve policy meeting that ends later in the day, but any impact on oil prices may be muted, with the US central bank widely expected to maintain its massive economic stimulus programme. London Brent crude for December delivery was down 3 cents at $108.98 a barrel by 0635 GMT, after settling down 60 cents on Tuesday. US crude for December delivery was 47 cents lower at $97.73. A mixed bag of US economic data over the last few days has reinforced expectations the US central bank will not reduce its $85 billion of monthly asset purchases until March at the earliest. "If (the Fed) acts as expected and there is no change in their position, it will likely support oil prices, but not cause them to be pushed up significantly," said Tetsu Emori, a commodities fund manager at Astmax Investments. The US dollar hit a one-week high as investors judged that the prospect of easy money for longer had now been pretty much discounted. Libya's exports of crude have slumped to around 90,000 barrels per day, less than 10 per cent of capacity, as protests have halted operations at ports and fields, but Libya's prime minister said on Monday exports from the eastern port of Hariga with a capacity of 110,000 bpd would resume after one week. Weighing on US futures, US crude inventories rose by 5.9 million barrels in the week to Oct. 25, compared with analysts' expectations of an increase of 2.2 million, statistics from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday. The US Energy Information Administration will release its own oil inventories statistics later on Wednesday. "If we don't have any changes to (the uncertainty in) Libya or the tapering, I think just seasonally as we go into winter, runs will ramp up steeply in the United States, and these crude builds we're seeing now will start to draw down," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp. "So we could possibly see WTI go back up over $100 and Brent stay supported at $108," Nunan added. Investors will also keep an eye on a series of technical and diplomatic meetings on Iran's nuclear programme that could pave the way for an easing of sanctions on Iranian crude exports. But any increase in exports from the Islamic state may take some time as the US Senate is debating fresh sanctions aimed at slashing in half Iran's oil sales within a year of the plan being signed into law, an influential senator said.

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