Oil stable on lower Saudi exports, but rising US shale output caps market

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil markets were stable on Tuesday, supported by a fall in Saudi Arabian crude exports but capped by an expected rise in U.S. shale output.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $50.00 per barrel at 0043 GMT, 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, above their last settlement.

WTI has been loitering around $50 per barrel since late last week, supported by rising demand from the restart of many refineries knocked out by Hurricane Harvey, but prevented from breaking away from that level by rising U.S. crude output.

U.S. shale production is set to rise for a 10th month in a row in October, the U.S. government said late on Monday. Output across seven shale plays is forecast to rise by nearly 79,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 6.1 million bpd, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly drilling productivity report.

Outside the United States, Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $55.52 a barrel, up 4 cents.

Traders said price support came from data showing Saudi crude exports fell to 6.693 million bpd in July, down from 6.889 million bpd in June.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Richard Pullin)