OIL PRICES: ABOVE $69 AGAIN

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG - Oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed by data showing an increase in U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories.

Brent crude futures were at $69.79 a barrel at 0749 GMT, down 17 cents from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $64.45 a barrel, down 2 cents from their last settlement.

Prices were pressured by U.S. data showing an increase in crude and gasoline stocks.

The American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday crude inventories rose by 4.8 million barrels in the week to Jan. 19 to 416.2 million, after nine weeks of drawdowns.

Gasoline stocks climbed by 4.1 million barrels, while refinery crude runs fell by 420,000 barrels per day.

In Asia, oversupply of gasoline has pulled down refinery profits their lowest level since 2015.

Amid these indicators, traders are taking measures to protect themselves from a potential fall in crude prices.

Trading data shows open interest for Brent put options to sell at $70, $69 and $68 per barrel has surged since the middle of last week on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

"The options market shows increased demand for downside protection. This makes sense considering how one-sided (to the upside) the speculative bets have become," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

There is now far more demand for options to sell Brent than there is for call options, which are the right to buy Brent at a certain price.

Sukrit Vijayakar energy consultancy Trifecta said the rising options to sell were a result of huge amounts of long positions that have been built up over the past months of rising prices.

"We still have...nine long barrels for every short barrel, so a reversal should be interesting to watch," he said.

STILL STRONG SUPPORT

Despite this, traders said oil would unlikely tumble far as markets remain supported by strong economic growth and by supply restrictions led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that an average Brent price of around $60 was a reasonable forecast for this year, Interfax news agency reported.

In the latest sign of healthy economic growth, Japanese manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in almost four years in January, a survey showed on Wednesday.

Economic growth is translating into oil demand growth and comes at a time that OPEC and Russia lead production cuts aimed at tightening the market. The deal to withhold output started in January last year and is currently set to last through 2018.

Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore said a "beaming economic forecast along with stout compliance from OPEC (to withhold production) is providing convincing support."

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Earlier:

2018, January, 22, 08:50:00 OIL PRICES: NOT ABOVE $69 YET REUTERS - Brent crude futures were at $68.89 a barrel at 0315 GMT, up 25 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close. Brent on Jan. 15 rose to $70.37, its highest since December 2014. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.61 a barrel, up 24 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement. WTI climbed to $64.89 on Jan. 16, also its highest since December 2014.

2018, January, 22, 08:40:00 OPEC'S CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE OPEC - HH Sheikh Sabah praised all 24 participating countries, both OPEC and non-OPEC, for their joint efforts towards restoring much needed oil market stability, as well as keeping faith in the collaborative approach which is at the heart of the ‘Declaration of Cooperation’.

2018, January, 19, 12:45:00 OIL PRICES: ABOVE $68 REUTERS - Brent crude futures were at $68.78 at 0128 GMT, down 53 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last close. On Monday, they hit their highest since December, 2014 at $70.37 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.36 a barrel, down 59 cents, or 0.9 percent, from their last settlement. WTI marked a December-2014 peak of $64.89 a barrel on Tuesday. Русский | English

2018, January, 17, 23:50:00 OIL PRICES: NOT ABOVE $70 YET REUTERS - Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.23 a barrel at 0808 GMT, up 8 cents from their last close, but down from a high of $69.37 earlier in the day. Brent on Monday rose to $70.37 a barrel, its highest since December 2014, the start of a three-year oil price slump. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $63.84 a barrel, down from a high of $63.89 earlier, but up 11 cents from their last settlement. WTI hit $64.89 on Tuesday, also the highest since December 2014. Русский | English

2018, January, 12, 13:05:00 OIL PRICES: NOT ABOVE $70 REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $63.34 a barrel at 0755 GMT, down 46 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last settlement. WTI the day before rose to its strongest since late 2014 at $64.77. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $68.97 a barrel, down 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close. Brent also marked a December-2014 high the previous day, at $70.05 a barrel.

2018, January, 10, 13:05:00 OIL PRICES: $60 - $61 EIA - Brent crude oil prices averaged $54/b in 2017 and are forecast to average $60/b in 2018 and $61/b in 2019. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil spot prices are forecast to average $4/b less than Brent prices in both 2018 and 2019. EIA’s forecast for the average WTI price for December 2018 of $58/b should be considered in the context of NYMEX contract values for December 2018 delivery. NYMEX contract values traded during the five-day period ending January 4 suggest that a range of $40/b to $85/b encompasses the market expectation for WTI prices in December 2018 at the 95% confidence level.

2018, January, 4, 12:30:00 OIL PRICES: ABOVE $68 REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $62.16 a barrel at 0752 GMT, up 53 cents, or 0.9 percent, from their last close. They touched $62.21 shortly before, their highest level since May 2015. Brent crude futures LCOc1 - the international benchmark for oil prices - were at $68.23 a barrel, up 39 cents, or 0.9 percent, after revisiting a May 2015 high of $68.27 shortly before.