RIYADH: Oil futures recouped some losses on Wednesday after dropping by 2 percent in the previous session, supported by supply worries stemming from the proposed cuts agreed by the Organization of Petroleum Countries, and its allies, known as OPEC+, although a stronger dollar weighed on market sentiment.
Brent crude futures were down 2 cents, or 0.02 percent, to $94.27 a barrel by 0727 GMT after hitting a session low of $93.33 a barrel.
US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $89.14 a barrel, down 21 cents, or 0.24 percent. The contract fell to a session low of $88.27 per barrel earlier in the day.
Court decision delays ExxonMobil’s Iraq exit
A court ruling made in September has apparently delayed the exit of ExxonMobil from Iraq as the judgment was against the establishment of Iraq National Oil Co., MEED reported citing industry sources.
Iraq’s highest court dismissed the government order that created INOC two years ago – a huge setback to efforts to restructure the country’s oil sector.
It should be noted that Exxon has been trying to sell its stake in the West Qurna 1 oil field for more than a year, but in August, the deputy director general of state-owned Basra Oil Co. Hassan Muhammad Hassan claimed that Exxon had not yet signed “a settlement agreement”.
“INOC was going to play a key role in transferring ownership from ExxonMobil and now the plans are going to be delayed,” said one source.
The source added: “There is much more uncertainty about how this is going to proceed and ExxonMobil is now not expected to officially exit the field until 2023 at the earliest.”
Czech operator sees no changes to flows through Druzhba pipeline
Czech oil pipeline operator MERO has not detected any change to crude oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline to the Czech Republic on Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Polish pipeline operator PERN said it had detected a leak on Tuesday evening in one line of the Druzhba pipeline, which carries oil from Russia to Europe.
(With input from Reuters)