Crude Oil Futures Decline After Iraqi Election, OPEC Meeting

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures fell, extending last week's 2.8 percent decline, after as many as 8 million Iraqis voted in the country's elections, easing concern about supplies from the Middle East's fifth-largest producer.

Voter turnout in Iraq, where exports have been reduced by attacks on pipelines in the run-up to the election, was about 60 percent, according to the Independent Electoral Commission. OPEC, the producer of more than a third of the world's oil, yesterday agreed to leave output quotas unchanged.

``There's room for oil to go down a bit further,'' Randy Simpson, vice-president of supply and trading at New West Petroleum Inc. in Sacramento, California, said before the start of trading. ``The general consensus was that things were going to go to plan in Iraq, or at least with a bit less mayhem.''

Crude oil for March delivery fell as much as 77 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $46.41 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $46.54 at 11:02 a.m. Sydney time.

Story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a_.MSzKog.wY&refer=top_world_news