Oil prices sink on prospect of more oil export from Iraq

NEW YORK, April 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. oil prices suffered substantial losses on Monday on possible resumption of oil export from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region via Türkiye's Ceyhan oil terminal.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery dropped 1.69 U.S. dollars, or 2.05 percent, to settle at 80.83 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery decreased 1.55 dollars, or 1.8 percent, to settle at 84.76 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Iraq's federal government and the Kurdistan regional government have resolved technical issues essential to resuming the region's oil exports via the Turkish port of Ceyhan, said a report by Reuters on Monday.

Türkiye's Ceyhan port halted the shipment of oil from the Kurdistan region and Kirkuk province on March 25 after the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruled that export of oil from the Kurdistan region is subject to approval from the Iraqi central government.

Crude oil supply in the international market lost around 450,000 barrels per day due to measures taken following the ruling by the ICC.

The Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan regional government signed an agreement on April 4 to resume Kurdish oil exports via Türkiye.

Traders also tend to book profits as oil prices struggle to gain additional growth momentum amid economic uncertainties.

"Given enough time we will get a bit of a pullback, simply because a lot of traders are sitting on nice gains that they would like to book sometime soon, especially if the market is not going to pick up more momentum," said Christopher Lewis, analyst with market information platform FX Empire.

The substantial rise of the U.S. dollar index on Monday also weighed on commodity prices denominated in the currency.