* U.S. crude, Brent touch session lows; both down about 4
pct
* Investors take profits from 11-week high
* Oil prices ease on technical resistance
* OPEC to continue defending market share - Kuwait oil
minister
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Koustav Samanta
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled more than $2
dollars, hitting fresh session lows on Monday, as traders took
profits after last week's surge to an 11-week high, and on a
report that OPEC continued to boost crude production despite a
persistent glut.
Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was down $2.22, or more than 4
percent, at $50.43 by 1:20 p.m. ET (1720 GMT), the biggest
percentage decline since the start of September.
U.S. light crude CLc1 was down $2.22, or about 4.5
percent, at $47.41.
"After an 8 percent rally last week and a move up to the 200
day moving average at $51, crude oil has just gone too far too
fast and a pull back today was to be expected," said Phillip
Streible, senior market strategist at Chicago-based RJO Futures.
Last week, the U.S. front-month crude contract breached the
100-day moving average and almost came within a cent of the
200-day moving average on Friday.
Crude prices were pressured on Monday when secondary sources
cited in OPEC's monthly report said the group pumped 31.57
million bpd in September, up 110,000 bpd from August and almost
2 million bpd more than its demand prediction for this year.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N12C22M
OPEC trimmed its estimate of 2016 world oil demand growth by
40,000 bpd to 1.25 million bpd, citing slower growth in
China. OPEC/M
"The OPEC demand forecast for 2016... suggests some concern
about the strength of demand next year. We are primarily wary of
this risk," said Richard Hastings, macro strategist at North
Carolina-based Global Hunter Securities.
"All of it puts a rebalancing phase deeper into 2016,"
Hastings added.
Kuwait Oil Minister Ali al-Omair said there were no calls
within OPEC to change the production policy and that lower
output from high-cost producers could support prices in 2016,
adding to signs OPEC will keep its strategy of defending market
share. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N12C14K
Oil has been on a roller-coaster ride over the last few
weeks, recovering from six-year lows in turbulent trade. North
Sea Brent crude dropped to almost $42 a barrel in August, from a
peak above $115 in June 2014, but then rallied back to an
intraday high of $54.05 on Friday.