By Grant Smith
June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures fell below $76 a barrel in New York, extending their losses as the euro declined against the dollar.
“Financial developments are more important than fundamentals right now in supporting the price,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst with Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “The high and rising inventory levels reflect that the market is still in oversupply.”
Crude oil for July delivery fell $1.13, or 1.5 percent, to $75.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 11:40 a.m. London time. The contract is up 2.5 percent this week. Brent crude for August settlement dropped $1.31 to $77.37 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. The euro fell to $1.2371 from $1.2389. A stronger dollar decreases the investment appeal of commodities priced in the U.S. currency.
Drilling Moratorium Impact
Global oil production may fall by 800,000 to 900,000 barrels a day if a moratorium on deepwater drilling spreads beyond the U.S., Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Nobuo Tanaka said today in the Japanese city of Fukui.
Tighter regulations because of the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may delay exploration projects, Tanaka said.
--Editors: John Buckley, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at christian.s@bloomberg.net Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net
