Oil prices slipped further early on Wednesday in very thin trading as the market digested rumors that Iraq had begun loading oil for export, after a 12-day embargo on crude shipments.
A barrel of Brent North Sea reference crude for earliest delivery in January fell as low as 26.86 dollars in morning deals, from 27.06 dollars on Tuesday evening.
In New York, the light sweet crude January contract ended Tuesday's session at 29.68 dollars, up 18 cents.
Dealers said that Wednesday's dip had been prompted by news that Iraq had started loading oil ready for export at its Mina al-Bakr port.
"We saw headlines about Iraqi loading at Mina al-Bakr," said Jim Chilcott, a trader with the GNI brokerage. "It's coming down on that, it's just drifting, it hasn't come down aggressively at all."
"It doesn't mean that it's a green light to them exporting," Chilcott added.
The lower prices came despite a contraction of US crude stocks of more than one million barrels last week to 286.7 million barrels, as measured by the American Petroleum Institute (API) -- LONDON (AFP)
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