Brent crude oil declined towards $102 a barrel on Wednesday amid strong supplies, despite violence in Iraq and Libya.
Reuters reported that Brent for September delivery fell 24 cents to $102.78 a barrel, its lowest in more than a year, while US crude was down 17 cents at $97.20 a barrel.
The International Energy Agency said production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increased to a five-month high above 30 million barrels per day (bpd) in July.
The US Energy Information Administration is due to unveil its weekly oil inventories report later today and the agency said on Tuesday that US crude production averaged an estimated 8.5 million bpd in July, the highest level since April 1987.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed that US crude inventories increased by 229,000 barrels last week to 364.2 million barrels.
The violence in Iraq is yet to disrupt significant amounts of oil from the country, even though several small fields have been closed in the Kurdish region.
Meanwhile, oil exports have been recovering slowly in Libya despite the violence between armed factions.
A spokesman for state-run National Oil Corp said that an oil tanker carrying 670,000 barrels of crude left Libya’s Ras Lanuf oil terminal on Tuesday, the first shipment since the port was reopened after several blockades.
According to Reuters’ calculations based on preliminary data from the Chinese government, the country’s implied oil demand in July declined 6% from June and was down 2% from a year earlier at 9.57 million bpd.
