LONDON, Aug 23: Oil prices fell on Tuesday as the traditional weekly report on energy stockpiles in the United States moved into focus, while traders kept an eye on geopolitical factors.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, decreased 75 cents to $64.90 per barrel in early trade. The September contract expired on Monday at $65.45.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in October shed 44 cents to $64.06 a barrel.

The market focus — which this week has been on unrest in Ecuador, Iraq and Nigeria — was firmly on Wednesday’s weekly snapshot of US crude inventories data, dealers said.

Traders remained concerned about tight supplies amid strong global demand but the US energy report was expected to show a rise in crude stocks and distillates — giving investors some relief.

“The market is really just gearing up for the stock numbers on Wednesday,” said David Thurtell, commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

Analysts consensus forecasts are for a 550,000-barrel increase in crude stocks, a 1.5-million-barrel drop in gasoline (petrol) reserves and a rise of some 1.6 million barrels in distillates.

Investec analyst Bruce Evers said: “People don’t care about the gasoline situation anymore now that we are two weeks to the end of the driving season.”

Gasoline demand will begin to level out by early September as the high-demand US summer driving season draws to a close.

Refiners will then focus on stockpiling distillates, particularly heating fuel, before the cold sets in during the northern hemisphere winter in the fourth quarter.

“If you start seeing distillate stocks falling, then there’ll be panic again. The market is still very, very nervous,” Evers said, adding that he was “convinced” that prices would hit $70 this year.

Traders, meanwhile, monitored unfolding events in Ecuador and Iraq.

Ecuador’s state oil firm was producing at half capacity, energy minister Ivan Rodriguez said on Monday, and resuming normal output may be difficult because of damage during six days of protest.

Production partly resumed Sunday after President Alfredo Palacio deployed troops to Ecuador’s Amazon basin and protesters agreed to talks with government officials in Quito.

Ecuador produces over 200,000 barrels per day, half of which is exported to the United States.

Elsewhere, Iraq resumed oil exports from its southern fields after a 16-hour suspension due to a power outage, which may have been caused by sabotage, a spokesman of the state-owned South Oil Co said on Monday.

—AFP