Futures Movers: WTI crude, Brent prices hover at highest levels in weeks

Oil futures were holding around levels not seen since September on Thursday, with big moves muted as investors kept a wary eye on supply disruptions stemming from tensions in Iraq.

November West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile exchange

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 was more or less flat at $52.03 a barrel in the Globex trading session. December Brent crude

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 was also flat, at $58.19.

On Wednesday, WTI crude logged the highest finish since Sept. 27, closing up 16 cents at $52.04. Brent crude recorded its highest settlement since late September, closing up 27 cents at $58.15 a barrel.

The market remains focused on events in Iraq, as reports suggest that production disruptions are building and inventories at the Ceyhan port are being drawn down quickly.

Escalating tensions between Iraq’s central government and the semiautonomous Kurdish region have boosted crude prices in recent days. Kurdistan, which voted almost unanimously to become an independent state in a controversial referendum late last month, exports nearly 600,000 barrels of oil a day.

Read: Iraqi troops seize control of oil-rich Kirkuk from Kurds

The focus on geopolitical tensions is taking away from the inventory report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which showed an unexpected draw from U.S. crude stockpiles. The EIA reported Wednesday that crude inventories fell by 5.7 million barrels last week, more than the 3.2 million barrels that analysts were expecting, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal.

At a conference in London on Wednesday, Ian Taylor, chief executive officer at Vitol Group, the world’s largest oil trader, predicted that Brent oil prices could drop more than 20% by 2018, as U.S. output surges in an oil market that’s already battling oversupply.

“We are all expecting a little bit of tightening to come through because we all see demand growing next year at a pretty good rate, we all expect OPEC to hold together and we expect probably the capital discipline to [remain in place],” Taylor said.

“So it’s guaranteed we are all going to be wrong. And I think there’s a chance oil could fall closer to $40 than $50, because I think there’s still one more big surge coming from U.S., which will knock prices down,” he said, pointing to $45 per barrel as his 2018 forecast.

Read: OPEC deal needs to last at least 2 years: Total CEO