Investing.com - Oil futures traded lower during Tuesday’s Asian session as traders in the region digested some mixed data points out of the U.S. ahead of the start of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting later Tuesday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for December delivery fell 0.39% to USD98.30 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday. The December contract settled higher by 0.85% at USD98.68 per barrel Monday, indicating Tuesday’s decline could be a case of some profit-taking as well.
Crude jumped Monday on Reuters reports that exports from Libya dropped to approximately 250,000 barrels per day, down from an overall capacity of 1.25 million barrels per day, due to labor protests disrupting operations at major oilfields and ports.
Although Libya is home to Africa’s largest oil reserves, the OPEC member has been struggling with productions issues for over two years and has yet to come to close to output levels seen prior to the Arab Spring in 2011.
In other oil-related news out of the Middle East, OPEC member Iran is planning to offer foreign oil companies USD100 billion in investment opportunities over the next three years to improve output there.
Iran is still under Western sanctions due to its nuclear program and some market participants believe it is unlikely those sanctions will be lifted anytime soon.
Iran's crude exports were reduced by more than half after the European Union and United States tightened sanctions in mid-2012 in response to Tehran's nuclear program, Reuters reported.
In U.S. economic news out Monday, industry data revealed that U.S. pending home sales fell 5.6% last month, down for the fourth consecutive month and well below market calls for a gain of 0.1%
Industrial production rose 0.6% last month, better than the 0.4% increase economists expected. Capacity utilization rose to 78.3% from an upward-revised 77.9%, beating the estimate of 78%.
Elsewhere, Brent crude futures for December delivery fell 0.25% to USD109.18 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for December delivery fell 0.39% to USD98.30 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday. The December contract settled higher by 0.85% at USD98.68 per barrel Monday, indicating Tuesday’s decline could be a case of some profit-taking as well.
Crude jumped Monday on Reuters reports that exports from Libya dropped to approximately 250,000 barrels per day, down from an overall capacity of 1.25 million barrels per day, due to labor protests disrupting operations at major oilfields and ports.
Although Libya is home to Africa’s largest oil reserves, the OPEC member has been struggling with productions issues for over two years and has yet to come to close to output levels seen prior to the Arab Spring in 2011.
In other oil-related news out of the Middle East, OPEC member Iran is planning to offer foreign oil companies USD100 billion in investment opportunities over the next three years to improve output there.
Iran is still under Western sanctions due to its nuclear program and some market participants believe it is unlikely those sanctions will be lifted anytime soon.
Iran's crude exports were reduced by more than half after the European Union and United States tightened sanctions in mid-2012 in response to Tehran's nuclear program, Reuters reported.
In U.S. economic news out Monday, industry data revealed that U.S. pending home sales fell 5.6% last month, down for the fourth consecutive month and well below market calls for a gain of 0.1%
Industrial production rose 0.6% last month, better than the 0.4% increase economists expected. Capacity utilization rose to 78.3% from an upward-revised 77.9%, beating the estimate of 78%.
Elsewhere, Brent crude futures for December delivery fell 0.25% to USD109.18 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.