LONDON, Aug 28: The price of oil pushed lower here on Wednesday as traders took profits after Opec officials signalled they were ready to pump more crude oil in the event that a US attack on Iraq caused a supply shortfall.

Reference Brent North Sea crude oil for October delivery fell 19 cents to $27.03 per barrel in early trading as selling pressure which began late Tuesday persisted.

In New York, the light sweet crude October contract fell 45 cents to $28.83 per barrel on Tuesday, and was expected to sustain further losses when trading resumed.

Oil prices, which had initially pushed sharply higher on Monday after US Vice President Dick Cheney made the White House’s most forceful case yet for military action against Iraq, were hit by comments from Opec President Rilwanu Lukman.

Traders said Lukman had reassured the market by promising Tuesday that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) would offer more oil if prices were to rise in the event of a US attack on Iraq.

His comments were backed up by Algerian energy and mining minister Chakib Khelil, who said Opec would make sure supply was sufficient to meet demand in the event of another war in the Gulf.

We want to make sure that the oil prices stay between the $22-to-28 range. I am sure Opec will make the right decision, Khelil said Tuesday.

Opec ministers meeting in Japan next month are keeping traders guessing over whether they will agree to raise their production ceiling.

Mounting opposition in the Arab world to the prospect of a US attack on Iraq meanwhile raised fresh doubts about the US regime’s willingness to go it alone, injecting additional caution into the market.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Tuesday all Arab states reject a US invasion of Iraq.

I don’t think there is one Arab state that wants a strike on Iraq, not Kuwait, not Saudi Arabia, not any other state, Mubarak told students at a meeting in the northern city of Alexandria.

Prudential Bache oil broker Tony Machacek said Mubarak’s comments had helped dampen market expectations of an early US strike.

I think the US is going to be wary of attacking Iraq without any support at all from Arab nations, Machacek told AFP.

Data on US inventories, released late Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute, were said to have been broadly neutral and as such to have had little impact on the market.

The API reported that US crude oil stocks, which have fallen sharply in recent weeks, rose 2.9 million barrels to 305.2 million in the week to August 23.

Meanwhile, gasoline stocks fell 2.1 million barrels to 207.8 million, while distillate fuel stocks declined 1.1 million barrels to 131.6 million in the same period.—AFP