NEW YORK: Oil prices fell as much as 2 per cent on Monday on news of the impending restart of Britain’s Buzzard oilfield, and US crude slid below $50 per barrel, which triggered technical selling.

Earlier, oil was pressured by news that Iraq wanted to be exempt from a production cut by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

Buzzard, the North Sea field that contributes to the Forties crude stream and which pumps about 180,000 barrels per day (bpd), will restart on Tuesday or Wednesday, from a month-long planned maintenance, an industry source said. The Forties stream influences pricing for international crude benchmark Brent.

“Obviously, it means increased supply for Brent versus what had been the status quo,” said David Thompson, executive vice-president at Powerhouse, a commodities-focused brokerage in Washington.

“Also, you’ve been moving down steadily on the Iraq news that had been dominating the market earlier and this comes on top of it.” Brent was down $1, or 1.9pc, at $50.78 a barrel by 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 GMT). Its session low was $50.50.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 99 cents, or 2pc, to $49.86, after hitting a session low at $49.62. It was the first time since Oct. 18 that WTI had traded below $50.

Published in Dawn October 25th, 2016