Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell on speculation that the capture of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will reduce attacks on the nation's oil-producing facilities.
Efforts to increase supplies from the Middle East's third- largest oil producer have been hampered by attacks on a pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey. Violence continued in Iraq today as two people were killed and 12 injured by two car- bomb explosions at police stations in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
``The arrest of Hussein raises the idea that Iraq will be more stable in the months ahead,'' said Bill O'Grady, director of fundamental futures research at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. ``If violence abates, Iraqi production and exports will rise and prices should fall further.''
Crude oil for January delivery was down 54 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $32.50 a barrel at 10:04 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were up 14 percent from a year earlier.
In London, the January Brent crude-oil futures contract was down 50 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $29.87 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.
Iraq pumped 2.06 million barrels a day in November, the highest since the U.S.-led invasion in March, according to Bloomberg estimates. The country pumped 2.48 million barrels of oil a day in February.
