OPEC
US crude rises 1.2%, settling at $61.34, boosted by Saudi comments and a weaker dollar
Oil prices extended gains on Thursday as a weak dollar and supportive comments from Saudi Arabia outweighed record U.S. production and rising inventories. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures ended Thursday’s session up 74 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $61.34 a barrel, extending the 2.4-percent gain the day before. Brent crude futures pared earlier losses and were down 2 cents to $64.34 per barrel at 2:29 p.m. ET, after Wednesday’s 2.6-percent climb. The premium of Brent over WTI was near its lowest in six months. The dollar was approaching the 3-year low hit in late January. A weaker dollar makes oil and other dollar-denominated commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies. “I’m surprised that oil prices are falling today given the weaker U.S. dollar. Curre...
Africa’s Top Oil Producer Poised to Give OPEC an Output Headache
Add independent Nigerian drillers to the list of oil producers itching to supply more crude at a time when OPEC and allies like Russia are trying to restrict output and prop up prices. Domestic Nigerian producers are aiming to pump almost 250,000 barrels a day more crude by 2020 as part of a wider plan for the nation to lift output to 2.5 million a day, Oil Ministry data show. Shoreline Group, the third-biggest independent, wants to double output by December with Seplat Petroleum Development Co., the second-largest, also intending to produce more. (chart on original article) They are planning to add barrels at the same time as Nigeria participates in a global pact to restrict oil supply that’s being led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-member nations including R...
The Oil And Gas Situation: Volatility Returns, As The Market Overreacts
After a 7-month period of remarkably low volatility in the global crude oil markets, the last two weeks have seen a return of turbulence. The sudden correction that has hit stock markets around the world has in turn diminished stability where crude is concerned. A 10 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial average was met by a 10 percent drop in the price for WTI, as a strengthening dollar, a jump in the U.S. rig count and the preliminary announcement by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) that domestic production set a new record of 10.25 million barrels of oil per day during the final week in January led to a predictable reaction in the trader and investor communities. Suddenly, those $55 hedge contracts some U.S. producers entered into during Q4 2017 aren...
OPEC: United States leads in new oil production
Economists at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said they expected more oil from non-member states, with the United States leading the pack. OPEC in its monthly market report for February raised its forecast for supply from producers outside the group by 250,000 barrels per day for an expected full-year average of 1.4 million barrels per day. Most of those new barrels will come from the United States. OPEC economists attributed the increase in U.S. oil production to steady gains in the price of crude oil since the middle of last year. That’s triggered more work in exploration and production, not only in the U.S. shale oil sector, but also in the deep U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico. By the second half of the year, OPEC said it expected total U.S. oil production ...
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