As investors continue to assess the ongoing conflict in Iraq the price of crude oil is dropping. WTI September futures on the NYMEX were trading at $96.63 per barrel, down 0.47%, on Monday morning. This comes after the contract reached an eight-month low of $95.26 per barrel last week. At the same time Brent October futures on the ICE in London were down 0.48% at $102.68 per barrel.
Not only is the conflict in Iraq going on far away from the country’s oil fields, but output from Libya has increased to just over 500,000 barrels a day.
Furthermore, the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories grew by 1.4 million barrels in the first week of the month.
Should the conflict in Iraq continue in the same vein and Kurdish forces continue to make gains then it is likely that crude oil prices will continue to fall.
Even if the situation in Iraq flares up there is a chance that prices will remain fairly static as not only does the US now import as much oil from Canada as it does from the Middle East but just last week the Energy Information Administration decreased its price forecast for crude oil as the US has reached its highest monthly production for 27 years.
