By Anna Hirtenstein
LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices edged lower on Thursday, extending a run of declines into a fourth day, with Brent hitting its lowest since early June due to concerns about oversupply in the market.
Brent crude futures fell 58 cents, or 0.9%, to $64.77 a barrel at 1309 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude retreated by 57 cents, or 0.9%, to $61.21 a barrel, also around a four-month low.
OPEC+ could agree to raise oil production by up to 500,000 barrels per day in November, triple the increase made for October, as Saudi Arabia seeks to reclaim market share, three sources familiar with the talks said.
Jorge Montepeque, managing director at Onyx Capital Group, said some banks, such as Macquarie, have put out predictions of a super glut in oil markets, which have weighed on sentiment.
The Group of Seven nations’ finance ministers said on Wednesday they will take steps to increase pressure on Russia by targeting those who are continuing to boost purchases of Russian oil.
The U.S. will provide Ukraine with intelligence for long-range missile strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, two officials told Reuters on Wednesday, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report.
This will make it easier for Ukraine to hit refineries, pipelines and other infrastructure with the aim of depriving the Kremlin of revenue and oil, the WSJ said.
“There is some concern in the market again that Russian oil could get disrupted,” said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS. But as long as there are no disruptions yet, the impact on prices will likely be minor, he said.
Stockpiling demand from China, the world’s largest crude oil importer, also underpinned oil prices, limiting the downside, traders said.
The Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week as refining activity and demand softened.
(Reporting by Anna Hirtenstein in London. Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Yuka Obayashi and Siyi Liu; Editing by Tom Hogue, Jamie Freed, Jane Merriman and Chizu Nomiyama)
