Oil prices dip as Iraq increases exports amid demand concerns

By Shadia Nasralla

LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices were little changed on Monday as concerns over Russia and the Middle East were countered by oversupply jitters.

Brent crude oil futures (BZ=F) dipped 55 cents, or 0.8%, to $66.13 a barrel by 1241 GMT. Brent has traded between $65.50 and $69 a barrel since early August.

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U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) contract for October, expiring on Monday, was at $62.23 a barrel, down 45 cents, or 0.7%. The more active November contract fell 53 cents, or 0.9%, to $61.87 a barrel.

U.S. shares, which often move in tandem with oil, were set to dip on Monday amid a visa crackdown and guesswork about the Fed's next interest rate moves.

Tensions rose in the Middle East over several Western nations recognising a Palestinian state as well as in Eastern Europe over Estonia saying Russian fighter jets had entered its airspace without permission on Friday. But none of these developments resulted in an immediate oil supply disruption.

Brent and WTI settled down more than 1% on Friday to mark a slight decline last week as worries about large supplies and declining demand weighed on sentiment.

"The setup for the oil market is that global oil demand is set to taper off from Q3 to Q4 and again to Q1-26. At the same time production by OPEC+ is on a rising path," said SEB analysts.

"The big question is of course if China will stockpile the increasing surplus or whether the oil price will be pushed lower into the 50ies. We believe the latter."

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer, has increased oil exports under an OPEC+ agreement, state oil marketer SOMO said. It also expects September's exports to range from 3.4 million to 3.45 million bpd.

Iraq has also given preliminary approval to a plan to resume pipeline oil exports from its semi-autonomous Kurdistan region through Turkey, sources told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Florence Tan and Mohi Narayan; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Joe Bavier) Sign up for the Yahoo Finance Morning Brief

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