U.S. crude oil settled at $99.29 a barrel, down $2.64, after earlier falling to a session low at $98.60. Brent crude settled 79 cents lower at $118.78 a barrel, having risen to $120.07 earlier, the highest since May 5. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is offering more oil to Asian refiners in July, industry sources with direct knowledge of negotiations said. It was the first evidence the kingdom is taking steps to raise supplies unilaterally after OPEC failed earlier this week to agree on an increase in the cartel’s production targets. An increase in crude output by Saudi Arabia will not change market conditions as demand is for lighter oil than it provides, Iran’s OPEC governor was on Saturday quoted as saying, reiterating Tehran’s stance that there is no need to boost production. At a meeting in Vienna this week, OPEC failed to agree on an increase in production, which consuming countries wanted and which leading exporter Saudi Arabia pushed for, because other producers, including Iran, said they feared prices could tumble. Saudi Arabia will raise output to 10 million barrels per day in July from 8.8 million bpd in May, Saudi newspaper al-Hayat reported on Friday, as Riyadh proceeds outside official OPEC policy. Iran’s Mohammad Ali Khatibi told the newspaper that the three countries that supported an output increase – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates – had done so under US pressure.
