WTI Drops First Time in Three Days as Discount to Brent Widens

Bloomberg (28/10) -- West Texas Intermediate oil fell for the first time in three days as New York crude’s discount to London-traded Brent futures widened.

Futures slid as much as 0.4 percent in New York. WTI capped a 2.9 percent decline last week, the most in five weeks, as rising production boosted inventories in the U.S.

Iraq’s crude exports last month dropped to 62.1 million barrels amid maintenance, Asim Jihad, a spokesman for the oil ministry, said in an e-mail yesterday.

WTI for December delivery fell as much as 34 cents to $97.51 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $97.59 at 11:08 a.m. Sydney time. The contract rose 0.8 percent to $97.85 on Oct. 25, trimming its weekly decline. The volume of all futures traded was about 22 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for December settlement gained 5 cents to $106.98 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $9.42 to WTI futures, up from $9.08 on Oct. 25.