Iraq Follows Saudi Price Cuts as Brent Oil Falls With WTI
Iraq will sell its Basrah Light crude to Asia at the biggest discount since January 2009 as it follows Saudi Arabia and Iran in cutting prices amid a slump in Brent futures to the lowest in almost four years.
Brent crude, the European benchmark, fell 2 percent in London today while West Texas Intermediate lost 1.4 percent in New York. Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, trimmed the price differentials for supplies to Asia and Europe for November, the countrys State Oil Marketing Co., known as SOMO, said yesterday.
The worlds two most-traded oil futures are collapsing as demand growth slows and output expands in the U.S., Russia and other nations. OPECs biggest producers are responding by cutting prices, sparking speculation they are ready to compete for market share. Iran last week said it will sell oil to Asia in November at the biggest discount in almost six years, matching cuts by Saudi Arabia.
OPEC is still giving no indication that it might take steps to shore up prices, Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report. OPEC countries appear to be more interested in defending their market shares at present than stabilizing prices.
Brent for November settlement slid $1.83 to $88.38 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange as of 11:57 a.m. London time. The contract closed at $90.05 on Oct. 9, the lowest since June 2012. Prices have decreased about 20 percent this year.
WTI for November delivery was at $84.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down $1.21. The contract settled at $85.77 on Oct. 9, the lowest since December 2012. The U.S. benchmark crude was at a discount of $3.76 to Brent. It closed at $4.39 on Oct. 10.
Prices slumped after OPEC increased oil supply by the most in almost three years last month. While Societe Generale SA estimates the group needs to reduce output by about 1 million barrels a day, analysts were split last week on whether it will announce a cut at its next gathering in November.
Whats happening in the market is good for big Middle-East customers like us, said B. Ashok, the chairman of Indian Oil Corp., the countrys largest state-run refiner that counts Iraq as its biggest supplier. We have to wait and see where prices go in coming months. Usually, they tend to rise a bit in winter.
Venezuela will seek an extraordinary OPEC meeting to address falling prices, the nations foreign ministry said in a Twitter post on Oct. 10. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said many countries considered the groups current output quota to be reasonable and fair and the country hasnt received an invitation to any emergency meeting, state news agency Kuna reported yesterday.
Although it looks like prices have touched their lowest level, theyll fall a bit more before they are hit by an actual move by OPEC, Will Yun, a commodities analyst at Hyundai Futures Co., said by phone in Seoul. Countries cutting their official selling prices is one of the factors thats been driving the prices down in the short term.
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Iraq Follows Saudi Price Cuts as Brent Oil Falls With WTI