Forexpros – Crude oil futures remained higher on Tuesday, shrugging off revised data showing that the U.S. economy grew at a slower pace than initially estimated in the third quarter.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at USD98.53 a barrel during early U.S. morning trade, surging 1.65%.
It earlier rose by as much as 1.85% to trade at USD98.69 a barrel, the highest price since November 18.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s second estimate of third quarter gross domestic product showed that the economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.0%, down from a previous estimate of 2.5%. Analysts had expected the second estimate of U.S. gross domestic product to remain unchanged at 2.5%.
Still, the 2.0% growth rate was the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2010.
Oil prices continued to draw support after the U.S. announced new sanctions on Iran’s energy and financial sectors on Monday, in response to a United Nations report that the Iranian government was working on a nuclear weapon.
Separately, France urged the European Union and other nations to immediately freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank and to suspend purchases of Iranian oil.
Iran is the world’s fourth largest crude oil producer and the second biggest exporter among OPEC members. The country produces approximately 3.7 million barrels of oil a day.
Meanwhile, the OPEC secretary general Abdalla Salem El Badri said earlier that oil markets are balanced and current prices are at a comfortable level ahead of the group’s upcoming December 14 summit in Vienna.
El Badri’s comments came after Iraq’s oil minister said in Tokyo that OPEC was likely to cut output when it gathers in mid-December.
Markets were 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 Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles fell by 0.5 million barrels last week, while gasoline supplies were forecast to rise by 1.0 million barrels.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for January delivery rose 1.52% to trade at USD108.50 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD9.97 a barrel.
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