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Oil Slips Below $59 | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices slipped below $59 on Monday as high fuel stocks in consumer countries blunted the impact of a new attack on Nigerian oil facilities.

Doubts over OPEC’s determination to push through output cuts also weighed. Investors took little notice of OPEC President Edmund Daukoru saying more reductions could follow in December.

U.S. crude was down 16 cents at $58.98 a barrel by 1132 GMT. Prices ended $1.26 higher on Friday after the U.S. consulate in Nigeria said militants may have imminent plans to launch attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta.

London Brent crude was 10 cents down at $59.05.

The market has traded between $57-$62 for a month.

An oil production facility at Tebidaba, in southern Nigeria, was attacked early on Monday, government and security sources said. The Tebidaba region feeds crude oil to the Brass tanker terminal, which exports about 200,000 barrels per day.

Violence in the world’s eighth-largest exporter has cut output by 500,000 bpd since February.

But oil prices have slid 25 percent since a July peak partly because of high fuel stocks in top consumer the United States.

OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said on Sunday all OPEC members will fully implement their production cuts, while market conditions may force OPEC to cut output further next month.

“A December quota cut may be necessary because the market is still soft,” Daukoru told Reuters in South Korea ahead of an oil conference. “$60 will not hurt the world economy.”

Price hawk Venezuela is recommending OPEC take an additional 300,000 barrels per day off the market at its December meeting, to add to a 1.2 million bpd cut agreed from November.

“We see front month WTI crude prices continue to remain rangebound in the high fifties for the coming week, as bulging crude inventories and perceived lack of coordination from OPEC weigh in on the market,” said analysts at JP Morgan.