Brent crude fell to a fresh one-month low beneath $110 a barrel on Tuesday, as prospects for a rise in Libyan oil exports improved and fears of supply disruption in Iraq eased.
The benchmark is headed for a seventh straight session of losses, the longest losing streak since October 2012, and has shed more than 5 percent since the Iraq crisis drove prices to a nine-month high of $115.71 in June.
Brent crude for August deliverywas at $109.58 a barrel by 1056 GMT, down 66 cents and just above a month low of $109.53 hit in the session.
U.S. crudeedged down 14 cents to $103.39. It settled down for a seventh session on Monday, posting its longest straight decline since 2009. Its discount to Brent fell to the narrowest since mid-June, hitting $6.18 per barrel.
Olivier Jakob, an analyst at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland, said traders now see less risk that Islamist militants in Iraq will advance beyond the edge of Baghdad and disrupt oil flow in the country's south.
"The oil fields in the south are not in direct danger and the oil fields in the north and Kurdistan are also not in danger. So for now it is difficult to see any strong disruptions to exports," Jakob said.
"The fact that the big ports in Libya are now reopening also makes some prompt crude oil available to the market."
The Brent future for delivery in September also moved to a small premium over contracts for delivery next month, which traders said is an indication of weak demand.
Source: Reuters
The benchmark is headed for a seventh straight session of losses, the longest losing streak since October 2012, and has shed more than 5 percent since the Iraq crisis drove prices to a nine-month high of $115.71 in June.
Brent crude for August delivery
U.S. crude
Olivier Jakob, an analyst at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland, said traders now see less risk that Islamist militants in Iraq will advance beyond the edge of Baghdad and disrupt oil flow in the country's south.
"The oil fields in the south are not in direct danger and the oil fields in the north and Kurdistan are also not in danger. So for now it is difficult to see any strong disruptions to exports," Jakob said.
"The fact that the big ports in Libya are now reopening also makes some prompt crude oil available to the market."
The Brent future for delivery in September also moved to a small premium over contracts for delivery next month, which traders said is an indication of weak demand.
