Oil prices fall due to increasing supplies and weekness of dollar

Oil prices fell Monday as all the concerns about tight supplies were calmed down.

Photo: Oil prices fall due to increasing supplies and weekness of dollar

Chakib Khelil, Algeria's oil minister and future president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries does not exclude the possibility of increasing production if the market wants it.

Oil tanker-tracker Petrologistics released data that shows OPEC oil exports have already risen by about 400,000 barrels a day, analysts said.

And as the picture is improving, concerns about weakening demand are rising. Analysts said Friday's government report that consumer inflation jumped in November by the largest amount in more than two years continues to weigh on markets.

"Worries about economic growth have re-emerged," said Addison Armstrong, director of exchange traded markets at TFS Energy Futures LLC in Stamford, Connecticut.

Oil prices fell Monday despite two weekend developments that would have sent prices sharply higher: Word that Turkish forces attacked Kurdish rebel positions inside Iraq and the call by a Nigerian militant group that rebels in the oil-rich African nation should unite and attack the continent's largest oil industry.

"These stories failed to stimulate buying," which should be taken as a sign that the oil market is weak, said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in New York.

The dollar contributed to that weakness by stabilizing against other currencies in recent days. Oil prices have risen this fall partly due to speculative buying by investors who see crude futures as a hedge against the dollar, which has weakened this year. Also, oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling.