Forexpros – Crude oil futures edged lower on Wednesday, as lingering concerns over the euro zone’s debt crisis and a downbeat oil demand outlook from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries weighed on prices.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at USD85.61 a barrel during European morning trade, shedding 0.23%.
It earlier fell by as much as 0.7% to trade at a daily low of USD84.56 a barrel.
Slovakia’s parliament on Tuesday rejected a plan to boost the size of the European Financial Stability Facility, the region’s bailout fund, resulting in the collapse of the nation’s government and further adding to worries over the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone.
The country is the last of the 17-member bloc which has yet to support the expansion of the EFSF, which needs to be approved by all euro zone states for it to go active.
Meanwhile, OPEC lowered its forecast for global oil demand for 2011 and 2012 for the fourth consecutive month and warned it could cut the outlook again amid growing unease over the global economy.
In its monthly report published Tuesday, the organization said world oil demand for the remainder of 2011 was expected to total 87.8 million barrels per day, down from a previous forecast of 87.99 million barrels.
For 2012, global demand was expected to average 88.56 million barrels per day, compared to the organization’s September estimate of 89.26 million.
Markets were also awaiting fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Thursday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 0.8 million barrels last week, while gasoline supplies are forecast to rise by 0.1 million barrels.
The department is releasing the data a day later than usual because of the Columbus Day holiday earlier in the week.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for November delivery eased up 0.08% to trade at USD108.14 a barrel, up USD22.53 a barrel on its U.S. counterpart, the widest premium since September 15.
Brent prices were supported as oil major Royal Dutch Shell declared a suspension of shipments of oil supplies from Nigeria, citing pipeline sabotage.
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