LONDON, Dec 29: World oil prices slid on Thursday ahead of the latest snapshot of crude stockpiles in the United States, dealers said. The US Department of Energy was to publish its traditional weekly stocks report on Thursday, one day later than usual because of the Christmas holidays.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, lost 25 cents to $59.57 per barrel in electronic trading.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for February delivery shed 27 cents to $57.37 per barrel.

On Wednesday, US crude futures had briefly surged past $60, closing up $1.66 at $59.82 per barrel, after Iran said it wanted to cut Opec’s production ceiling by one million barrels per day.

Iran wanted the move agreed at Opec’s next meeting on January 31 in Vienna, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said in comments published Wednesday.

The oil-rich nation is the second biggest crude producer within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

On the US stocks front, market expectations are for a decrease of 800,000 barrels in crude inventories in the week to December 23.

Analysts have pencilled in a 700,000-barrel drop in distillates, which include heating fuel and diesel. Gasoline or petrol reserves are expected to remain unchanged.

Even if the figures come in as expected, the market remains oversupplied with oil, and if the weather is warmer than normal, as expected, for the rest of the winter, then heating oil stocks should also be sufficient, analysts at the Sucden brokerage said.

Crude stockpiles in the United States are some 12 per cent above their level at the same stage last year. Heating fuels, seen as crucial during the colder northern hemisphere winter, are around 11 per cent higher.

The US National Weather Service has predicted the mild temperatures to remain through to March.

Opec’s output ceiling currently stands at 28 million bpd. At its last meeting on December 12, the cartel decided not to renew an offer of two million bpd in emergency additional output.—AFP