LONDON, Mar 27 (Reuters): Oil prices declined on Wednesday, reversing earlier gains, as further disruptions to Venezuela's crude exports were offset by a report that US inventories rose last week.
Brent crude futures were down 22 cents, or 0.32 per cent, to $67.75 a barrel at 1021 GMT. US crude futures were down 44 cents at $59.50 a barrel.
Venezuela's main oil export port of Jose and its four crude upgraders were unable to resume operations following a massive power blackout on Monday, the second in a month.
Crude exports from the key OPEC member have dropped sharply since Washington in January banned US refiners from buying Venezuelan oil.
Oil prices have risen more than 25 per cent this year, supported by supply curbs by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers, along with US sanctions on exports from Venezuela and Iran.
"Yo-yo price swings have become the norm in the oil market," PVM analyst Stephen Brennock said in a note. "Market focus switched back to supportive supply considerations. They include, most notably, Venezuela's deepening oil woes."
In the short term, prices were pressured by a report from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade organisation, saying US crude inventories rose 1.9 million barrels last week, while analysts had forecast a 1.2 million barrel-drop.
The Department of Energy (DoE) will release official weekly figures later on Wednesday.
Brent crude traded in a relatively narrow range of $64 to $69 a barrel throughout March, reflecting the tension between tightening supplies and concerns over global demand.
Another report from Lausanne, Switzerland adds: Four of the world's biggest traders expect the Brent oil price in 2019 to largely linger in the $60s a barrel with a slight rise in the second half of the year due to a tightening market, they said on the sidelines of the FT Commodities Global Summit.
Glencore's head of oil Alex Beard expects Brent to stay in the mid-$60s while Gunvor chief executive Torbjorn Tornqvist saw $60s to low $70s a barrel.
"I think they (the Saudis) like to see the oil price where it is and not lower," Gunvor's Tornqvist said.
"Having said that, the fundamentals will tighten a little bit in the coming months as refining capacity comes back online from turnaround and new capacity coming later in the year so more crude needs to be put on the market later on. US shale is ramping up but it remains to some extent bottlenecked."
Vitol predicted a wider range, with its chief executive Russell Hardy saying he expected the oil price to be in the range of $60-$80 a barrel for 2019.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would provide a cap on prices, Hardy said, as the group would not want to see the price to go above $80 a barrel for fear of demand destruction. OPEC is set to meet in June to discuss whether it will extend production cuts.
Last year, the oil price dropped sharply after hitting a four-year high at nearly $87 a barrel when the United States granted waivers to some importers of Iranian crude oil.
These waivers are due to expire in April but the traders do not see Iran having a significant impact on the price on the expectation that some waivers will be renewed.
