World oil prices fell on Tuesday (Wednesday morning GMT ) , due to profit-taking ahead of the weekly U.S. oil inventory report and the conclusion of a Federal Reserve policy meeting that many anticipated .
The benchmark U.S. light sweet crude or West Texas Intermediate ( WTI ) for delivery in January , fell 26 cents to close at 97.22 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange .
European benchmark , Brent oil futures for February delivery fell 97 cents to 108.44 dollars per barrel in London trade .
Heading into Tuesday , U.S. oil prices were on the higher end of their range since the end of October around 92-98 dollars . Oil prices rose on Monday ( 16/12 ) after Libyan protesters refused to stop the blockade on the main export terminals that has been going on for months .
" There's a bit of profit taking yesterday , " said John Kilduff , founding partner of hedge fund Again Capital .
Kilduff said U.S. oil prices benefited from the start of a new route this week for oil shipped from Houston , Texas , to Houma , Louisiana , which is expected to help alleviate the oversupply in the Texas Gulf Coast .
Brent , in turn , has been weakened by signs of progress in talks between the protesters and government ibya center , said Kilduff .
A record of the Eurasia Group, said both sides in Libya " makes progress towards reaching an agreement . " Eurasian predicts the return of oil exports from eastern Libya in the first quarter of 2014.
This dispute involves an attempt to obtain oil revenues and political autonomy for Cyrenaica , the eastern oil-rich Libya .
The oil market is also getting ready for the Wednesday conclusion of the Fed's monetary policy meeting , which will consider whether the U.S. economy is strong enough to pull back a big bond -buying program .
Traders are also awaiting the release of weekly U.S. oil inventory report on Wednesday . The average analyst estimate crude oil inventories decreased by 2.7 million barrels for the week ending December 13 , according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires , according to AFP .
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