Top Stories
Oil Trims Weekly Drop as U.S. Production Falls Most Since 2013
U.S output fell 2.3%, stockpiles slide 7th week, EIA reports Stockpile decline was less than forecast, API report Oil trimmed its biggest weekly decline in five months as investors weighed the largest drop in U.S. output since 2013 against a smaller-than-expected stockpile decline. Futures rose as much as 1.4 percent in New York. Prices lost 4.8 percent Thursday after government data showed crude stockpiles fell 2.2 million barrels last week, less than the forecast 2.5 million-barrel decline and the 6.7 million drop reported by the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute. U.S. production slumped 194,000 barrels a day, or 2.3 percent. Oil has traded between $45 and $51 a barrel in the last month after almost doubling from a 12-year low in February amid supply disruptions and falling U.S. output. The recovery has prompted U.S. producers to begin returning drilling rigs to service, leading to speculation the decline in production will […]
Oil Prices Turn Lower After Inventory Report
Crude-oil prices turned negative Thursday after U.S. data showed a smaller-than-expected decline in crude inventories last week. U.S. oil for August delivery recently fell 94 cents, or 2%, to $46.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, declined 91 cents, or 1.9%, to $47.90 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Both benchmarks had been up modestly ahead of the data. Crude oil pipelines at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve in… The Energy Information Administration said crude-oil inventories dropped by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended July 1. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a decrease of 2.3 million barrels, and the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said late Wednesday that its own data for the same week showed a 6.7 million barrel decrease in crude supplies. The data came out one day later than […]
Saudi Strategy Working: OPEC Captures Largest Market Share Since 1975
OPEC has captured its largest share of the oil market since 1975, which could be seen as a vindication of the cartel’s strategy over the past two years. But it also creates vulnerabilities for the U.S. and others, who are once again increasingly dependent on the Middle East for oil. OPEC and its de facto leader Saudi Arabia have pursued market share over the past two years, and with great success. Rather than curtailing production in order to prop up prices, OPEC members ran horrific budget deficits and kept output elevated. That crushed crude oil prices, and has forced many high-cost drillers out of the market – and continues to do so. Even though the overall benefit to OPEC is questionable given the huge revenue losses, OPEC has emerged with its largest market share in forty years. That might be viewed as a win in Riyadh, but […]
Libyan Oil Unity May Not Happen After All
Last week the two administrations of Libya’s National Oil Company made a breakthrough , reaching an agreement to unify their oil operations for the greater good, but now the eastern government of the civil war-torn country has put a spoke in the wheels of unity. The head of the Eastern government, Abdullah Al-Thanni, said on TV earlier this week that the eastern government will only agree to the unification if the company would give it 40 percent of all its revenues. The rest would go for southern and western Libya. The demands did not end there. Al-Thanni also asked that the western government provide salaries and subsidies on fuel, food, power and medicines from its 60 percent share, rather than the 40 percent for the eastern government. The leader of the East said his government will not be taking any “dictations” from the West and will […]
Shrinking Chinese Demand About To Slam Oil Prices
The oil markets have fallen back from the $50 per barrel mark due to questionable Chinese demand and an expectation of early restoration of supply outages. Crude is currently entering a corrective phase, which could take it down to $42 per barrel and lower. The sharp rise in crude prices were supported by large supply outages in Canada, Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela—disruptions that removed 3.5 million barrels per day of oilfrom the markets, quickly turning the supply glut into a deficit. It was accepted that the Canadian supply would be back on track quickly after the wildfires, but there were serious doubts that the supply would rebound in Nigeria, Libya, and Venezuela. However,news about a rise in production in Nigeria in June and reunification of Libya’s National OilCorp. under a single management weakened the resolve of the bulls to push prices higher. Nevertheless, […]
