TIL Desk/Business/Singapore-Oil prices extended their decline in Asia today as the global glut returned to focus, while worries about the effects of Turkey’s coup on shipments also eased. Turkey is a strategic conduit for shipments from Russia and Iraq to the Mediterranean and there had been fears that the bid to grab power by a military faction at the weekend would disrupt flows. The coup, however, was quickly crushed.
At around 0340 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 18 cents, or 0.40 per cent, to USD 45.06 and Brent fell 14 cents, or 0.30 per cent, to USD 46.82. After topping USD 50 in early June on the back of unrest in key African producer Nigeria and wildfires in Canada’s key crude region, prices have been falling as the crises eased.
The Turkish Straits, including the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, are among the world’s major choke points for seaborne crude, with about 2.9 million barrels of oil passing through daily in 2013. No shipments have been stopped since large tankers were barred from sailing in the Bosphorus waterway near Istanbul for several hours on Saturday, quoting a port agent. Analysts said however that downside risks for prices remain.
