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Brent crude oil futures were down 26 cents at $49.50 a barrel by
1056 GMT (6.56 a.m. ET), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude oil futures traded 9 cents higher at $49.42 a barrel.
Iraq will supply 5 million barrels of extra crude to its
international oil company partners in June, industry sources
familiar with the issue said, joining other Middle East
producers by lifting market share.
Iraq, the second-largest producer in the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries, had already been targeting record
crude export volumes from southern terminals next month of 3.47
million barrels per day.
Asian imports of Iranian oil rose more than 13 percent in April
from a year before as Tehran vies to recoup market share lost
under international sanctions.
OPEC's 13 members will meet in Vienna to set the group's policy,
which is expected to focus more on market share than on
influencing prices.
"Anyone betting on a surprise outcome in Thursday’s meeting is
brave in doing so," Vienna-based JBC Energy said in a note on
Tuesday.
JBC said that with oil prices trading near $50 a barrel and
improving market sentiment on unplanned outages and expectations
of draws on crude inventories in the second half of the year,
OPEC is under less pressure to act.
"But of course, as with any base case assumption and with a new
Saudi oil minister in town, there are alternative scenarios
imaginable," JBC said.
One topic on the group's agenda is selecting a new
secretary-general to replace Abdullah al-Badri, with Nigeria's
Mohammed Barkindo emerging as a front-runner, sources tell
Reuters.
Demand in North America is set to pick up as the summer driving
season boosts demand, triggering a cut in the amount of open
short crude positions that would profit from falling prices.
The number of outstanding managed short crude positions of U.S.
WTI crude futures <1067651MSHT> on NYMEX fell last week to the
lowest level this year.
"Since the start of the rally back in February ... speculative
length on the NYMEX have been growing by 0.6 percent per week,
whereas speculative shorts have been falling by 8 percent per
week," the U.S.-based Schork Report said in a note to clients.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing
by David Holmes and William Hardy)
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