Oil Steady Ahead of U.S. Stocks Data; Libya Limits Loss
Oil prices were steady on Tuesday as forecasts for a ninth straight weekly drop in U.S. crude stockpiles offset a rallying dollar and a global fuel glut.
A protest over wages that shut the eastern Libyan oil terminal of Hariga and forced a suspension of 100,000 barrels per day of crude production also helped the market limit losses, traders said.
Brent crude futures were up 6 cents at $47.02 a barrel by 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), after trading as high as $47.49 earlier.
U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures slid by 24 cents to $45 a barrel after a session high at $45.67.
"Today's action is much of the same we have seen over the last few weeks, which is consolidating recent gains within a narrow trading range," said Chris Jarvis, analyst at Caprock Risk Management in Frederick, Maryland.
A Reuters poll of oil market analysts showed U.S. crude stockpiles likely fell 2.2 million barrels last week, declining for a ninth week in a row. The American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, will be issuing its own inventory report at 4:30 p.m. EDT, before official data on Wednesday from the U.S. government.
U.S. crude stocks have been falling although fuel inventories across America, Europe and Asia are brimming from oversupply.
The glut, unexpected during the peak summer driving season, has prompted traders to store diesel on tankers at sea with the view of delivering them later at better prices. Landed oil product storage is tight too, providing little support for any sustained recovery in crude prices even if output tapers.
"We are about to enter a period where the crude oil markets could start to feel more fully the pressure resulting from the come-back of Iran," said Olivier Jakob at consultancy Petromatrix, referring to the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran earlier this year.
"Saudi Arabia is moving out of its peak seasonal demand for crude oil right when global refining margins are under strong pressure, and that is not a good combination."
Saudi Arabia fell behind Iraq as the No. 1 oil supplier to India in June, losing out in sales of heavy crude Indian refiners use for making bitumen to build roads.
The dollar index . rose to a four-month high after U.S. housing starts rose by more than expected in June. A stronger dollar makes greenback-denominated oil less affordable for holders of the euro and other currencies.
(By Barani KrishnanAdditional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in LONDON)
