NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Oil futures lost ground again Friday, falling on worries over a growing supply glut and a rallying U.S. dollar.
West Texas intermediate crude oil futures for October delivery CLV4, -0.47% fell 34 cents, or 0.4%, to $92.73 a barrel. November ICE Brent futures LCOX4, +0.32% lost 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $97.61 a barrel.
Oil futures have been struggling with growing supplies as U.S. oil production rises. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries all lowered their forecasts for demand growth earlier this month.
In addition, the U.S. dollar has been in rally mode as the U.S. Federal Reserve moves toward the end of its bond-buying program and prepares to eventually raise interest rates, possibly as early as the first half of next year. A stronger dollar is a negative for commodities priced in the unit, making them more expensive for users of other currencies.
Pressure on oil has been limited, however, by concerns about Libyan oil production. The country halted production at its El Sharara oil field, Libya’s largest, after a rocket attack on the connected Zawiya refinery earlier this week, Bloomberg reported.
“Given the current comfortable supply side cushion, the outage is relatively minor; but serves as a reminder that, despite recovering export rates and the [National Oil Company] reassurances of stable supplies, the country remains in a state of civil war,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, strategist at VTB Capital in London. “There is no guarantee this output glitch will be resolved swiftly or that there will not be any more disruptions.”
