Oil dips

Singapore : Oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by ample supplies despite ongoing output cuts by producer cartel OPEC and looming U.S. sanctions against major crude exporter Iran.

Brent crude futures were at $78.22 per barrel at 0644 GMT, down 21 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $71.03 a barrel, down 28 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement.

Despite the dips, both financial oil benchmarks remained close to their November 2014 highs of $79.47 and $71.92 a barrel respectively, reached the previous day.

But there are signs in physical crude markets that may give pause to financial investors.

There are also signs that oil production will rise, especially at majors like ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell , Chevron, BP and Total.