Oil is almost flat in Asia, last down $0.03.....>

OIL: Oil is almost flat in Asia, last down $0.03 at $49.94 after dipping to

$49.19 towards the end of the European session yesterday. 

-Hurricane Maria has been upgraded to a category 5 level on the same trail as

hurricane Irma and Hurricane Jose is still developing, reports say Jose may hit

landfall on Thursday and 5 refineries along the East Coast that process up to

1.1 million barrels of oil a day could be affected. WTI is still only hovering

around the $50 mark as refineries reopen after Hurricane Harvey and demand has

risen. Data showed Saudi Arabian crude oil exports fell to 6.693mln bpd in July,

down from 6.889 million bpd in June.

- Further decreases in rig counts reported on Friday in the Baker Hughes count

and we look to Wednesday when DOE Inventory survey's are predicting a lesser

increase in Crude Oil inventories.

- MNI technical analysis sees support at SUP 1: $50.17 - Hourly support Sept 18

and resistance is seen at RES 1: $50.88 - High Sept 14 with the recovery from

Aug lows now seeing the contract hesitating ahead of the 200-DMA and $51.45

resistance as daily studies linger at O/B levels.