OIL PRICE: NEAR $77 AGAIN

REUTERS - Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday as markets braced for the imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran next week and as stock markets clawed back some of their recent losses.

Benchmark Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 80 cents at $76.71 a barrel by 0840 GMT. The contract fell 1.8 percent on Tuesday, at one point touching its lowest since Aug. 24 at $75.09.

U.S. light crude CLc1 was up 60 cents at $66.78. It hit a two-month low of $65.33 a barrel on Tuesday.

New U.S. sanctions on Iran begin on Nov. 4 and Washington has made it clear to Tehran's customers that it expects them to stop buying any Iranian crude oil from that date.

Imports of Iranian crude by major buyers in Asia hit a 32-month low in September, as China, South Korea and Japan sharply cut their purchases ahead of the sanctions on Tehran, government and ship-tracking data showed.

Oil market sentiment also received some support from equity markets, which pulled back from 20-month lows on Wednesday after pledges by China to support its markets.

"The bullish argument for crude still centers on Iran sanctions which are due to begin in November, and continued output declines from Venezuela," said William O'Loughlin, investment analyst at Rivkin Securities.

Despite the rally on Wednesday, both crude benchmarks are around $10 below four-year highs reached on Oct. 3 and on track for their worst monthly performance since July 2016.

Tony Nunan, oil risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo, said the Brent price outlook for had changed dramatically:

"Everyone thought we were going to go into the $90s, but now we are heading for the $60s," he said.

Oil has been caught in the global financial market slump this month, with equities under pressure from the trade war between the world's two largest economies, the United States and China.

The United States has already imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, and China has responded with retaliatory duties on $110 billion worth of U.S. goods.

In another bearish signal, the American Petroleum Institute reported U.S. crude inventories rose 5.7 million barrels last week, more than analyst forecasts of a 4.1 million barrel build.

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Earlier: 

2018, October, 29, 12:55:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $77 REUTERS - Front-month Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading down 46 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $77.16 a barrel at 0745 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $67.19 a barrel, down 40 cents, or 0.6 percent.

2018, October, 29, 12:45:00 OPEC: CONFORMITY LEVEL 111% OPEC - The JMMC noted that countries participating in the ‘Declaration of Cooperation’ achieved a conformity level of 111% in September 2018, which shows significant progress towards the goal set at the 4th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting of 23 June 2018.

2018, October, 29, 12:40:00 RUSSIA: NO REASON OIL FREESE REUTERS - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday there was no reason for Russia to freeze or cut its oil production levels, noting that there were risks that global oil markets could be facing a deficit.

2018, October, 26, 13:00:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $77 REUTERS - Brent crude oil LCOc1 was down 70 cents at $76.19 per barrel by 0740 GMT, on course for a weekly loss of more than 4 percent. It has fallen by close to $10 in the last three weeks. U.S. crude CLc1 was 70 cents lower at $66.63, set for a 3.5 percent loss this week.

2018, October, 24, 11:40:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $76 REUTERS - Front-month Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $76.52 a barrel at 0658 GMT, up 1 cent from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were weaker, down 10 cents at $66.33 a barrel, pressured by a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API) that U.S. crude stocks rose by 9.9 million barrels in the week to Oct. 19 to 418.4 million barrels.

2018, October, 24, 11:35:00 NO OIL EMBARGO TASS - Saudi Arabia is a very responsible country, for decades we used our oil policy as responsible economic tool and isolated it from politics. So lets hope that the world would deal with the political crisis, including the one with Saudi citizen in Turkey, with wisdom. And we will exercise our wisdom both in political and economic fronts.

2018, October, 22, 12:25:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $80 AGAIN REUTERS - Benchmark Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $80.26 a barrel at 0646 GMT, up 48 cents, or 0.6 percent, above their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $69.60 a barrel, up 48 cents, or 0.7 percent.