Shafaq News/ Oil prices
were little changed on Tuesday as stronger supply prospects and tepid global
demand growth outweighed worries that escalating tensions in the Middle East
could impact output from the key exporting region.
Brent crude futures for
December delivery edged up 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $71.77 a barrel as of 0335 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for November delivery gained 8
cents, or 0.12%, to $68.25.
On Monday, Brent futures
ended September down 9%, its third month of declines and largest monthly drop
since November 2022. It slumped 17% in the third quarter for its biggest
quarterly loss in a year. WTI fell 7% last month and dropped 16% for the
quarter.
"There have been a
lot of reservations in place for oil prices, as market participants look
towards upcoming supply additions from OPEC+ by the end of this year, alongside
a still-soft demand outlook from China reflected in the country’s latest PMI
numbers," said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.
"That said,
sentiments have been less sensitive to the weaker data, finding room to
stabilise on the hopes that recent raft of stimulus may help to jumpstart the
economy ahead," said Yeap.
China's manufacturing
activity shrank sharply in September as new orders at home and abroad cooled, pulling
down factory owners' confidence to near record lows, a private-sector survey
showed on Monday.
Analysts say a slew of
stimulus measures over the last week are likely to be enough to bring China's
2024 growth back to about 5% after below-forecast data in the past several
months cast doubts over that target, but will hardly change the long-term
outlook.
Alongside the demand
concerns, OPEC+, which groups OPEC members and allies such as Russia, is
scheduled to raise output by 180,000 barrels per day in December.
Meanwhile, tensions in
the Middle East remain on the radar, but supply fears seem relatively contained
for now, with market participants still pricing out the risks of a wider
regional conflict, said IG's Yeap.
Israel's widely expected
ground invasion of Lebanon appeared to be getting underway early on Tuesday as
its military said troops had begun "limited" raids against Hezbollah
targets in the border area.
The attacks follow
Israel's killing on Friday of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah, and represents
an escalating conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran-backed
militants that now threatens to suck in the U.S. and Iran.
In the U.S., crude oil
and fuel stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week by about 2.1 million
barrels in the week to Sept. 27, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
The poll was conducted
ahead of a report from the American Petroleum Institute industry group due at
4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) on Tuesday.
(Reuters)