OIL FUTURES Crude slides amid resuming Libyan exports, US storms

London — 1036 GMT: Crude oil futures lost ground in the morning European trading session Sept. 14, amid the prospect of exports from Libya and demand shuttering in the US.

At 1036 GMT, ICE Brent November crude futures were down 25 cents from Sept. 11's settle at $39.58/b, while the NYMEX October light sweet crude contract was 23 cents lower at $37.10.

The Libyan National Army, the military group that imposed an eight-month oil blockade on the OPEC producer, has promised to reopen the country's energy shipments following talks with other Libyan groups, the US embassy in Tripoli said in a statement Sept. 12.

The announcement comes ahead of a meeting on Sept. 17 of the OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

News of the increased supply comes alongside demand concerns in the US. Tropical Storm Sally, which will likely intensify to a hurricane, is expected to hit the coast in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Sept 14-15, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

This comes amid a period of global unpredictability for oil. Oil demand growth in China is currently the only certainty, with consumption in the country seen rising through the remainder of 2020 and recovering completely in 2021, but the rest of Asia will not see a full recovery to pre-crisis levels during 2021, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told S&P Global Platts.

Asked about the outlook for Asia's oil demand recovery to pre-pandemic levels, Barkindo said: "Based on current assumptions, a full recovery to pre-crisis levels will not appear in Other Asia [which includes India but excludes China] during 2021." He added that demand recovery is highly dependent on measures aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic and the development of a successful vaccine.

"China, on the other hand, will recover completely in 2021, should current assumptions continue to hold," he said.

OPEC, which marked its 60th anniversary on Sept. 14, sees no change in its cooperation and dialogues with other oil producers as well as oil consumers, including in Asia, Barkindo said.