Futures in New York were little changed after slumping 2.4 percent Monday. Inventories probably dropped by about 3.5 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report on Wednesday. Libya has stopped loadings from its biggest oil field, while Venezuela’s exports also declined in the first half of August. “Right now, we are seeing a draw on the U.S. inventory stocks,” said Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. As “the driving season is coming to an end, the question is if the latest draws in U.S. inventories will continue.” U.S. crude stockpiles have declined by almost 43 million barrels since the end of June, according to the Energy Information Administration. While inventories have eased, oil production has increased to the highest since July 2015. Output from major shale fields is also forecast to climb to a record next month. Click Read More below for additional detail.

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.421; Month Ago: $3.204; Year Ago: $2.117. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $3.641; Month Ago: $3.365; Year Ago: $2.363.

Turkey agrees to deal only with Iraq’s central government for all crude that the OPEC nation exports through a Turkish pipeline, the Iraqi prime minister said, days after Iraq’s self-governed Kurds, who ship their own oil via the same network, approved a referendum on independence. The comments suggest the Turks may be reviewing their policy of letting Iraq’s landlocked Kurds export oil independently through the Turkish-controlled pipeline. Crude was flowing normally through the network on Thursday. The Kurds export less than 600,000 barrels a day, according to a tweet by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources on Sept. 24. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim asserted his country’s support for “restricting oil exports to the federal authorities” in Iraq, he said in a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart, Haider Al-Abadi, according to an emailed statement on Thursday from Al-Abadi’s office in Baghdad. Click Read More below for more of the story.