WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday, a day after recording a sharp surge, and three successive days of impressive gains.
Oil prices rose sharply on Monday on supply concerns stemming from heightened Middle East tensions and news of production cuts in Libya.
West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October ended down $1.89 or nearly 2.5% at $75.53 a barrel. WTI crude futures had gained about 2.5% and 3.2% on Friday and Monday, respectively.
Brent crude futures dropped to $79.55 a barrel, down $1.88 or about 2.3% from Monday's close.
Oil's sharp rally in recent sessions came amid renewed geopolitical concerns after Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border.
Israel purportedly launched a preemptive airstrike on Hezbollah missile launch sites in southern Lebanon early Sunday morning.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah still managed to launch hundreds of missiles, but according to Reuters, most were intercepted or fell in open areas.
The recent increase by the price of crude oil also came as Libya's eastern government said it would shut down crude production and halt exports amid a dispute with the internationally recognized western government over control of the central bank.
The oilfields in eastern Libya account for almost all the country's oil production, which totals about 1.2 million barrels per day.
Oil prices retreated today as Goldman Sachs reportedly sees the disruptions in Libya as short-lived with 600,000 bpd falling off the market in September and 200,000 bpd in October.
Meanwhile, investors await weekly oil reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API), due later today, and data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), due Wednesday morning.
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