PERTH, June 19 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices were steady below $99 on Wednesday as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to shed some light on whether it plans to taper its $85 billion stimulus programme.
The Fed's three quantitative easing schemes have been key in boosting prices of oil and other commodities.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude futures for July delivery
* Brent crude
* The Fed, whose two-day policy-meeting ends on Wednesday, is under pressure to roll back some of the $85 billion in monthly bond purchases under its latest programme, after some advances in the U.S. economy. Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a press conference in Washington on Wednesday at 1830 GMT.
* U.S. commercial crude oil stocks likely fell last week due to lower imports, according to a Reuters poll. The U.S. Energy Information Agency releases its weekly data on Wednesday.
* A report late Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute showed crude oil stocks rose last week.
* Norway's Statoil
* Iraq plans to ramp up oil production by nearly 45 percent by the end of 2014 to 4.5 million bpd without input from Kurdistan.
* Local authorities have given an unnamed Turkish company licenses to explore for oil in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to a report, a move that could anger the central government in Baghdad already worried about the region's growing independence.
MARKETS NEWS
* U.S. equities pushed higher on Tuesday as investors grew more confident the Fed would temper its recent statements on the future reduction of U.S. monetary support, while still pointing to economic improvement.
* All the major currencies marked time in Asia on Wednesday as investors waited for the Fed.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Wednesday: (Time in GMT)
1430 U.S. EIA weekly crude stocks Weekly USOILC=ECI
1430 U.S. EIA weekly dist. stocks Weekly USOILD=ECI
1430 U.S. EIA weekly gasoline stk Weekly USOILG=ECI
1800 U.S. Fed funds target rate Dec USFOMC=ECI
2330 Japan Reuters Tankan DI Jun JPRTAN=ECI
(Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by Joseph Radford)
((rebekah.kebede@thomsonreuters.com)(+61 402 974 273)(Reuters Messaging: rebekah.kebede.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
((CRUDE OIL TRADES Asia...ACRU/T Europe...CRU/T Americas...CRU/TU CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS Crude oil tenders in Asia........................CRU/TENDA Crude oil supply outages in Asia............CRU/OUT-ASIA-O Refinery outages in Asia....................REF/OUT-ASIA-O Global arbitrage news and flows.................O/CRUDEARB W.African crude imports to Asia, monthly........O/WAFRICA1 REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES Asia...REF/A Middle East...REF/ME Europe...REF/E NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA Japan..............METI/JP1 China..............O/CHINA1 India..............O/INDIA2 S.Korea............O/KOREA1 Indonesia.......O/INDO1-CRU CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA Japan...O/JAPAN1 US...EIA/S Europe...O/EUROIL1 CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS OPEC output survey...OPEC/O New Asian fields...ASIA/NEW New Africa fields...AFR/NEW New Europe fields..NSEA/NEW New Americas fields..AM/NEW New projects.....ENERGY/NEW CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS Middle East...........CRU/M Asia-Pacific........CRU/AP West Africa.........CRU/WAF North Sea............CRU/E Asia outlook.......ASIA/CRU Europe outlook.....EUR/CRU Global futures report...O/R Technicals report......O/I PRICES For all Official Selling Prices......................OSP/O For a POLL on oil prices............................O/POLL NYMEX and ICE oil futures...........................OILOIL TOCOM crude oil futures.............................0#JCO: Dubai, Oman swaps and spread...............ASIA/SWAP/CRUDE Middle East physical crude diffs...............CRUDE/ASIA2 Australia physical crude, Tapis swaps..........CRUDE/ASIA1 Asia-Pacific physical crude....................CRUDE/ASIA3 All Asian crude oil differentials................0#C-DIF-A All Asian crude oil outright prices..................0#C-A ))
Keywords: MARKETS ASIA NYMEX/
