Oil falls more than 1% as storm fears ease, demand concerns mount

[NEW YORK] Oil prices fell more than one per cent on Wednesday after a US Gulf storm weakened and moved away from oil-producing areas and as concerns mounted about global trade disputes and Turkey's currency crisis hurting demand.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell US$1.15 to settle at US$68.72 a barrel, a 1.65 per cent loss.

Brent crude futures fell 90 cents to settle at US$77.27 a barrel, a 1.15 per cent loss. The global benchmark had climbed in the previous session to US$79.72 a barrel, its highest since May.

Both benchmarks fell further in post-settlement trade after data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed a slightly smaller than expected draw in US crude inventories. Data was published a day later than usual because of the US Labour Day holiday on Monday.

Crude prices had jumped on Tuesday as oil companies shut dozens of offshore platforms in anticipation of damage from Tropical Storm Gordon. The storm, however, never became a hurricane and by Wednesday energy companies and port operators along the US Gulf Coast took steps to resume operations.

"Prices yesterday rose in anticipation that the storm could inflict some damage on the production and refining sector, but after all was said and done we lost a little bit of production and the refineries in Mississippi and Louisiana continued to run as Gordon made landfall," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

In all, companies halted 156,907 barrels per day of oil production, according to estimates on Tuesday by the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Oil also weakened as the United States-China trade dispute raised demand worries. Mr Trump could impose levies on US$200 billion more of Chinese imports after a public comment period on the new tariffs ends on Thursday.

Opec Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said global trade disputes could hurt energy demand in the future.

Also weighing on crude futures was a currency crisis in Turkey. The lira has fallen more than 40 per cent this year.

"Fears of Turkey's currency crisis spreading to other emerging markets have prompted demand-side concerns," said Abhishek Kumar, senior energy analyst at Interfax Energy.

US sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector from November are already reducing exports from Opec's third-largest producer and counteracting the impact of an agreement by Opec and its allies to pump more oil.

"With the anticipation of up to 1.5 million barrels per day affected by the US sanctions on Iran, one would expect prices to move higher in the weeks ahead," said Stephen Innes, of futures brokerage Oanda.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he could not predict what would happen with Iran and it did not matter to him if Iran's leaders wanted to talk to him or not.

REUTERS