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 By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark U.S. crude for December
delivery was down 4 cents at $93.30 a barrel in electronic trading
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the expiring
December contract rose 31 cents to close at $93.34.
The much more heavily traded January Nymex contract was up 4 cents
at $93.93.
Investors are awaiting data on U.S. retail sales and weekly
stockpiles of crude oil and refined products that will shed light on
the strength of the economy.
Stockpile figures for the week ending Nov. 15 are expected to show
declines of 500,000 barrels in crude oil stocks and 150,000 barrels
in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the
energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
If confirmed, the fall in crude oil supplies would be the first in
nearly two months and indicate a pick-up in demand.
Oil has traded between $93 and $96 a barrel this month and is down
from nearly $110 a barrel in early October due to ample supplies and
tepid demand.
There are, however, some jitters over the resumption of negotiations
in Geneva on Wednesday about Iran's nuclear program. Six nations —
the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — are offering
a gradual rollback of sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy.
"If sanctions were to be eased, additional crude oil would become
available from Iran — oil that is not really needed, in fact, given
the plentiful supply," said analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt in
a note to clients.
President Barack Obama deflated some of that speculation after he
rejected reports that Iran would receive $40 billion or $50 billion
in sanctions relief, and said any concession would be limited. He
said new sanctions would be applied, if Iran refused to accept a
deal or forsook its commitments under an agreement.
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Reports that tankers at ports in Libya were loading oil helped ease
crude prices in Europe, which is a major consumer of crude from the
North African country struggling to achieve stability more than two
years after the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
Brent crude for January delivery, the benchmark for an international
variety of crude, was down 19 cents to $106.73 a barrel on the ICE
Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on Nymex:
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Wholesale gasoline was down 1.14 cents at $2.6085 gallon.
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Heating oil added 0.65 cent to $2.9129 a gallon.
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Natural gas gained 7 cents to $3.626 per 1,000 cubic feet.
[Associated
Press; PABLO GORONDI]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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