Oil Set for First Weekly Loss in a Month

(Bloomberg) 

Oil is set for the first weekly decline since early September on rising global output as Tropical Storm Nate moves toward the U.S. Gulf.

Futures fell 1 percent in New York, bring the weekly drop to 2.7 percent. OPEC output climbed marginally in September, U.S. production reached a two-year high last week and Libya restarted its biggest oil field. Companies from BP Plc to Chevron Corp. are shutting platforms in the Gulf of Mexico to prepare for Tropical Storm Nate, which is forecast to become a hurricane south of Louisiana on Saturday.

While oil rallied into a bull market last month on the prospect of stronger demand, prices struggled to hold above $52 a barrel as supply grew from the U.S. and two members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that are exempt from making cuts. Saudi Arabia and Russia reaffirmed their cooperation during a visit from King Salman bin Abdulaziz this week, with President Vladimir Putin saying he is open to extending the agreement with OPEC until the end of 2018 if required.

“Higher OPEC production in September as well as the prompt return of supplies from Libya after the brief closure of their biggest field weighed on oil futures this week,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich.

West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was at $50.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 52 cents, at 7:56 a.m. local time. Total volume traded was about 24 percent below the 100-day average. Prices rose 81 cents to $50.79 on Thursday, the first gain in four sessions.

Brent for December settlement fell 29 cents to $56.72 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices are down 1.4 percent for the week. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $6.11 to December WTI.

OPEC pumped 32.83 million barrels a day in September, up 120,000 barrels a day from August, as output recovered in Libya and Nigeria, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg. Production at Libya’s Sharara field increased to 200,000 barrels a day as it reopened after a halt forced by gunmen on Sunday, said a person with knowledge of the matter. U.S. oil output rose by 14,000 barrels a day to 9.56 million a day last week, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Oil-market news:

Tropical Storm Nate was about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Isla Guanaja, Honduras, with top winds of 45 miles an hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at about 8 a.m. New York time. President Donald Trump is weighing a new strategy to confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions that would leave a 2015 agreement intact for now but ask Congress to toughen a law overseeing the Islamic Republic’s compliance with the accord, according to three administration officials. Nigeria’s crude output fell to 1.67 million barrels a day last month, from 1.72 million in August, according to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Bloomberg’s survey of analysts and industry sources saw the nation’s production marginally higher at 1.77 million barrels a day.