Oil trades below $43 as Libya signals output rise at two fields

Heesu Lee November 28, 2015

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- Oil traded below $43 as Libya signaled it may raise output and as fears eased that Russia would retaliate against Turkey for downing its jet near the Syrian border.

Futures in New York declined as much as 1.7%, paring this week’s 5.4% gain. Libya’s National Oil Corp. in Tripoli said it’s making progress to resume production after more than a year from two oil fields, including Sharara, its biggest. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is ready to participate in a broad coalition against the Islamic State and has ruled out military retaliation against Turkey.

Oil has slumped about 35% the past year amid speculation a global surplus will be prolonged with U.S. inventories near a record and as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumps above its quota to defend market share. OPEC members will gather Dec. 4 in Vienna, where Iran has said it will announce plans to boost production by 500,000 barrels a day.

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery dropped as much as 75 cents to $42.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was trading at $42.57 at 8:54 a.m. Seoul time. The contract hasn’t settled since Wednesday, when futures closed up 0.4% at $43.04. Thursday’s transactions will be booked with Friday’s for settlement purposes because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

Brent for January settlement decreased 71 cents, or 1.5%, to $45.46 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange on Thursday. The European benchmark crude ended the Wednesday session at a $3.13 premium to WTI