“We’re seeing the bout of profit-taking that everyone has been waiting on,” said Neal Ryan, manager at Ryan Oil & Gas Partners, after crude concluded a 4-day run that had taken it up by 7%.

“Just looking at the volatile price action today, it’s pretty evident that the market is being driven up and down by the traders waiting on some news to hit the tape,” Ryan added.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency is getting ready to issue a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The IEA is assessing the condition of the world’s top 400 oil fields, and will reportedly say in November that future crude supplies could be far tighter than previously thought.

And, in one of the more bonehead political moves of late, the House of Representatives approved legislation, by a veto-proof majority, allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices. The bill would attempt to subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.

Getting it right for once, the White House opposes the measure, saying that targeting OPEC investment in the United States as a source for damage awards “would likely spur retaliatory action against American interests in those countries and lead to a reduction in oil available to U.S. refiners.” $200 oil anyone?

Source: Crude Finally Pulls Back