2020.01.2109:21:00UTC+00Oil Prices Fall 1 Percent As Supply Concerns Ease

Oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday amid expectations that Libya's oil production will eventually resume following a force majeure declared by the oil exporter on two major oilfields amid a military blockade.

Benchmark Brent crude fell 1.3 percent to $64.36 per barrel, after hitting its highest level in more than a week on Monday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 1 percent at $57.99 a barrel.

Earlier, there was speculation that Libya's oil output could soon fall to 72,000 barrels per day from a regular 1.2 million bpd recently, due to a blockade on oil shipments out of the North African state forced by Khalifa Haftar.

There were also reports of two more rockets landing outside the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Monday, though there were no casualties.

Analysts now expect that any supply disruptions in Libya and Iraq could be offset by increased output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),

OPEC spare crude oil production capacity, which averaged 1.23 million b/d in September is forecast to climb to nearly 1.4 million b/d over the course of 2020.