MTECHTIPS:-NYMEX crude down in Asia as Iran supplies stoke worries

MTECHTIPS:-NYMEX crude down in Asia as Iran supplies stoke worries

Crude oil prices dropped sharply in Asia on Wednesday with the advent of an expected surge in Iranian crude on the market the main focus. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for March delivery dropped 2.38% to $28.87 a barrel. Brent crude futures on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) fell 1.87% to $28.28 a barrel. Investors await the release of the American Petroleum Institute's weekly inventory report on Wednesday, delayed a day because of the Martin Luther King Jr holiday in the U.S. Seprate data from the U.S. Department of Energy will be released on Thursday. On Tuesday morning, China released preliminary data that showed demand for crude in 2015 surged by 2.5% on an annual basis to 10.32 million bpd. The figures may help ease persistent worries of moderate demand growth in the face of near-record supply. Overnight, U.S. crude futures closed significantly lower on Tuesday on a volatile day of trading, as investors continued to digest Iran's historic return to global energy markets and reports of record annual demand in China while oil prices remained at near 12-year lows. On the ICE, Brent crude for March delivery traded between $28.61 and $30.25 a barrel before closing at $28.84, up 0.29 or 1.02% on the day. In spite of the slight gains, North Crude sea futures have still plummeted by more than 22% in January.

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