While oil investors are grappling with geopolitical risks, the potential impact of tensions in the Middle East is uncertain, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Tuesday. While the conflict between Iraq’s central government and the semi-autonomous Kurds cut crude flows through a Turkish pipeline, the disruption may be short lived. Meanwhile, OPEC sent its strongest signal yet that its output cuts will be extended until the end of 2018. The flow rate through the pipeline from Kurdish region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan was about 200,000 barrels a day, according to a port agent report. That was unchanged from Thursday, but down from about 600,000 barrels a day before the conflict began. U.S. gasoline inventories expanded by 908,000 barrels last week, while distillate supplies climbed by 528,000 barrels to 134.5 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration. Crude stockpiles declined for a fourth week, down by 5.731 million barrels to 456.5 million barrels, the data showed. Click Read More below for additional information.

Oil in New York rose above $50 a barrel early last week, before slipping as signs of rising global supply eroded optimism that curbs by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners are rebalancing the market. The failure of OPEC’s efforts amid expanding output in Libya and Nigeria and lower compliance by some nations has spurred Saudi Arabia to take more action. Prices “are profiting from Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it will be reducing its oil shipments,” said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “This announcement is remarkable to the extent that domestic demand declines in September, meaning that more crude oil will be available for export if production remains unchanged.” Click Read More below for additional detail.

Brent crude prices steadied on Wednesday while WTI futures edged higher, supported by expectations of a fall in U.S. inventories and the continued outage of the North Sea Forties pipeline system. “The API is the reason why the energy complex is slightly up this morning,” said Tamas Varga, analyst with PVM Oil Associates. The American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels in the week to Dec. 15 to 438.7 million. Click Read More below for additional information.