LONDON: Global oil prices fell on Tuesday as dealers looked to the US Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting for signals on the central bank's plans for its stimulus programme.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in December, fell 53 cents at $98.15 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for December dropped 59 cents to stand at $109.02 a barrel in London afternoon deals.
The Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kicks off its meeting on Tuesday.
Although the FOMC is expected to maintain its $85 billion-a-month asset purchase programme, investors will be closely watching for clues about when a pullback might begin in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of crude oil.
Vanessa Tan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures, said the bank was unlikely to change course owing to the impact of the 16-day US government shutdown this month, as well as lacklustre economic data.
"Such quantitative easing would continue to buoy equities," she added.
Investors are also keeping an eye on a significant reduction in supplies from Libya.
Production in the OPEC member has been disrupted for months after labour unrest forced terminals to shut, slashing output to below 100,000 barrels a day. Before the shutdowns, Libya was producing between 1.5 million and 1.6 million barrels daily.
Production has increased in recent weeks, but an uptick in protests has raised concerns about exports owing to near-daily attacks and bombings that some fear could lead to civil war.
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