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 By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark U.S. crude for January
delivery was up 29 cents at $94.38 a barrel in electronic trading on
the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Nymex contract fell 75 cents to $94.09 on Monday after a deal
between Iran and six world powers on the country's nuclear program
raised the possibility that sanctions choking Iranian oil exports
will eventually be lifted.
While some Asian countries are expected to keep importing limited
amounts of oil from Iran, analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt said
that the EU, which at 450,000 barrels a day before sanctions was the
second largest consumer of Iranian crude after China, will keep its
embargo in place. That will curb the immediate impact of the nuclear
agreement.
"What is more, any rapid normalization of oil production in Libya
remains a pipe dream," Commerzbank said. "The oil price thus remains
supported by supply outages which are overshadowing the plentiful
market supply and are preventing any fall in price."
Oil traders are now looking ahead to figures on U.S. crude and
gasoline stockpiles.
Data for the week ending Nov. 22 is expected to show a draw of 1.5
million barrels in crude oil stocks and a build of 1 million barrels
in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the
energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil
stocks later Tuesday, while the report from the Energy Department's
Energy Information Administration — the market benchmark — will be
out on Wednesday.
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Crude oil supplies rose by 400,000 barrels for the week ended Nov.
15, the ninth straight weekly increase. But gasoline supplies fell
by 300,000 barrels, and the EIA said the average demand for gasoline
over the prior four weeks was about 4 percent higher than for the
same period last year.
Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, was up 7 cents at
$111.07 a barrel on the ICE exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on Nymex:
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Wholesale gasoline added 0.22 cent to $2.675 gallon.
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Heating oil rose 0.95 cent to $3.0399 a gallon.
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Natural gas gained 3.9 cents to $3.828 per 1,000 cubic feet.
[Associated
Press; PABLO GORONDI]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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