By Biman Mukherji

--The sharp midday Tuesday pullback in oil prices continued Wednesday morning in Asia, with Brent's second test of $80 a barrel failing amid the potential of major oil producers offsetting anticipated production declines in Iran and Venezuela.

--As the dollar also continued to climb, July light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was recently down 0.3% at $71.96 a barrel in the Globex trading session. Brent fell 0.5% to $79.15.

--The selling started Tuesday after Reuters reported that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will consider raising output at its June meeting amid mounting concerns that possible sanctions-related declines in Iran and Venezuela will lift prices so high that it will dent oil demand.

--Also weighing in Asian trade was a broader risk-off move, with a number of Asian stock indexes falling at least 1% on even-bigger declines in energy stocks, many of which have also rallied strongly of late to multiyear highs.

Write to Biman Mukherji at biman.mukherji@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2018 00:41 ET (04:41 GMT)