WTI & Brent have shed a few cents each..........>

OIL: WTI & Brent have shed a few cents each overnight, after both metrics edged

higher on Monday (Brent only added a few cents), defying headline flow in the

process.

- Iranian leader Rouhani noted that the U.S. had failed to zero the state's

crude exports on Monday, which weighed on the space. IEA chief Birol also noted

that U.S. exemptions re: Iranian crude were larger than exp.

- There were also indications of higher Saudi crude production in October.

- Elsewhere, exp. look for a build in U.S. shale production in December.

- Focus now turns to the weekly API crude inventory data, with analysts looking

for a median headline crude build of ~2.5mn bbls in this week's DoE inventory

release, due Wednesday.