Oil prices settle down 2.5% on signs Middle East exports recovering

By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled 2.5% lower on Tuesday as investors focused on signs of recovering crude exports from the Middle East, although prices headed for monthly gains on lingering concern about supply disruptions during the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Brent crude futures closed down $2.69, or 2.6%, at $102.59 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude settled down $3.22 or 3.5% at $89.38. 

Brent was headed for a monthly gain of around 13% and WTI about 4%. 

Crude futures were "under pressure this morning on news that the Saudi’s East/West pipeline flows have moved up. ... US/Iran negotiations are also continuing and while seemingly far apart, both are looking for an off-ramp, and as more oil flows through the Middle East, the less bargaining power Iran will have," said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president ⁠of trading at BOK Financial.  

Saudi Arabia resumed oil tanker loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after restarting operations on the East-West Pipeline, according to trade sources and shipping data, improving the outlook for oil exports from the Middle East.  

Crude oil exports from Middle East producers have rebounded in September to 16.328 million barrels per day, the highest since the US-Israeli war on Iran started in late February, data from Kpler showed on Monday.

US President Donald Trump said he has offered Iran nothing to end the war, rejecting media reports that cited US officials saying he was willing to ease sanctions and release frozen funds for "concrete" steps regarding Iran's nuclear program. 

Diesel futures in Europe edged lower on Tuesday, while those in the US traded 2.6% higher. 

The White House has urged the European Union to draw down diesel emergency inventories in a bid to lower global prices, sources said. Several European Union member countries have not released as much oil and refined products from reserves as they promised, Trump's administration said.  

 Trump is considering regulatory relief that would allow broader sales of red-dyed diesel as part of an effort to bring down soaring prices, according to two people familiar with the discussions. They noted that such a move could allow some buyers to avoid the federal fuel tax. The proposal emerged as a leading alternative to a diesel export ban.

US crude oil and gasoline inventories were expected to have fallen last week, while distillate stockpiles were likely unchanged, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Enes Tunagur in London, Sumit Saha in Bengaluru and Trixie Yap in Singapore; Editing by Louise Heavens, Jan Harvey and David Gregorio)