Oil Falls in Line with Stricken Stock Markets
Oil fell on Monday, in line with another decline across global stock markets, which came under pressure from concern about a U.S. government shutdown and a worsening world economy.The price of oil has already fallen by more than 30 percent so far this quarter to its lowest since the third quarter of 2017, as investors have grown increasingly wary of the impact to global growth, and crude demand, from an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China.The U.S. Senate has been unable to break an impasse over U.S.
Hedge Funds on Hold in Run Up to OPEC Meeting: Kemp
Hedge funds left their positions largely unchanged in the run up to last week's meetings among oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. Hedge funds and other money managers trimmed their combined net long position in the six most important futures and options contracts linked to petroleum for the ninth week in a row. But the combined net long position was cut by just 14 million barrels in the week to June 19, the smallest weekly amount since the middle of April, taking the total reduction so far to 330 million barrels since April 17.
OPEC Sees Strong Oil Market, Possible Need for More Output
Global oil demand is set to stay strong in the second half of 2018, an OPEC technical panel forecast this week, suggesting the market could absorb extra production from the group.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets on Friday to decide output policy amid calls from major consumers such as the United States and China to cool down oil prices and support the global economy by producing more crude.OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and non-member Russia have proposed gradually relaxing production cuts - in place since the start of 2017 - while OPEC members Iran…
OPEC Hopes for Oil Market Stability in 2018
OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on Monday he hoped a global deal to reduce oil production would help restore stability to global oil markets in the course of the year, he told Azeri TV station Real TV in an interview. "We are beginning to see that the stability is gradual but still returning to the market," Barkindo said during a visit to the Azeri capital of Baku, adding that oil producing countries participating in the deal members are currently focused on extending the deal to December 2018. The…
Oil Falls as U.S. Shale Growth Gathers Pace
IEA sees U.S. gaining market share from OPEC, predicts robust oil demand in next 5 years. Oil prices edged lower towards $64 per barrel on Monday on predictions of a major spike in U.S. oil output in the next five years. International benchmark Brent crude was down 8 cents, having shelved morning gains of around 0.6 percent, at $64.29 a barrel by 1237 GMT. The contract was well below this year's highs of over $71 per barrel that it hit in January. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was flat at $61.24 per barrel, having lost earlier gains of 0.7 percent. The International Energy Agency on Monday revised U.S.
Oil Sags but OPEC Cuts Provide Support
OPEC, Russian output cuts have helped reduce inventories; traders start closing positions before Christmas, New Year. Oil prices dipped on Friday but stayed near their highest levels since 2015 on pledges from OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia that any exit from crude output cuts would be gradual. Market liquidity was drying up on Friday as traders closed positions ahead of the Christmas and New Year breaks. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were down 24 cents at $64.66 a barrel at 1158 GMT, after ending Thursday at $64.90, its highest close since June 2015. U.S.
Paralysis at PDVSA: Venezuela's Oil Purge Escalates
Decisions at some joint ventures with foreign firms are delayed. A growing number of oil tankers sit idle because no one authorizes payments. Employees struggle to get approval for routine expenses, from taxis to training. An alleged crackdown on graft in Venezuela, seen by critics as an effort by President Nicolas Maduro to consolidate power, has sown panic across the country's energy industry and all but paralyzed state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, according to people at the company and across the sector.
OPEC Agrees Oil Cut Extension to End of 2018
OPEC agreed on Thursday to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018 as it tries to finish clearing a global glut of crude while signalling it could exit the deal earlier if the market overheats. Non-OPEC Russia, which this year reduced production significantly with OPEC for the first time, has been pushing for a clear message on how to exit the cuts so the market doesn't flip into a deficit too soon, prices don't rally too fast and rival U.S. shale firms don't boost output further. The producers' current deal…
Oil Slips on OPEC Deal Uncertainty
Oil prices slipped on Wednesday as doubts set in about Russia's willingness to substantially extend a deal among some of the world's biggest exporters to curb output to help tackle global oversupply and support prices. Brent crude futures were down 17 cents on the day at $63.44 a barrel by 1350 GMT, while U.S. light crude fell 28 cents to $57.71 a barrel. Oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers began gathering in Vienna on Wednesday to discuss extending a deal…
Saudis Push for Extension of OPEC Cuts
Riyadh favours nine-month extension, decision on Nov. 30. Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia is lobbying oil ministers to agree next week on a nine-month extension to OPEC-led supply cuts, sources familiar with the matter said, as Riyadh seeks to ensure a price-sapping glut is eradicated. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, non-member Russia and nine other producers are cutting oil output by about 1.8 million barrels per day until March 2018, and will discuss extending the deal at a Nov. 30 meeting in Vienna. Oil prices have risen to almost $65 a barrel, the highest since 2015, supported by lower inventories.
Oil Slips, as US Supply Threatens to Undermine OPEC Cuts
Oil prices edged lower on Thursday as rising U.S. production and inventories threatened to undermine a rally sparked by tightening world supply as a consequence of OPEC's curbs on output. Brent crude futures were down 14 cents a barrel at $61.75 as of 10:36 a.m. EST (1536 GMT). If Brent ends lower, it would mark a fifth consecutive day of declines. U.S. light crude fell 6 cents to $55.27 a barrel. Oil prices have slipped from the two-year highs hit last week by both crude benchmarks on signs that U.S. supply is rising and could potentially undermine OPEC's efforts to tighten the market. The U.S.
Putin: Oil Cuts with OPEC Could Last to End of 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday a deal between OPEC and rival oil producers to reduce production could be extended to the end of 2018, a longer timeframe than others have suggested, in a bid to curb a supply glut. The pact between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers on cutting output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) is now due to expire in March. "Everyone is interested in a stable market. What we did with OPEC, I believe, is beneficial for all the global economy," Putin told an energy forum in Moscow attended by several OPEC oil ministers.
Oil Export Will Be Main Topic at OPEC, Non-OPEC Meeting in Moscow
Oil exports will be in the spotlight at a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC members in Moscow this week, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. Novak said energy and oil ministers from more than half of OPEC's members will visit Moscow to take part in the Russian Energy Week 2017 forum. OPEC and non-OPEC ministers will work on recommendations for the next major meeting between global producers in November, Novak said. They will discuss the market situation and implementation of a global deal to cut oil production.
Venezuela: Oil Inventories Still Too High
Venezuelan oil minister Eulogio Del Pino on Friday said global oil inventories remain too high and called on OPEC and other producers to review their global output reduction pact in order to support the sector. Speaking at an energy conference in Kazakhstan, Del Pino said OECD oil inventories, standing at about 3 billion barrels, were still 300 million barrels above the level he considered balanced and normal. "Those 300 million barrels are going to impact speculation in the market," he said. "It (the level of inventories) is still very high," he said.
OPEC: No Rush for Deeper Cuts
Deeper cut possible, no real discussions now-delegate. OPEC will not rush into making a further cut in oil output or end some countries' exemptions to output limits, OPEC delegates said, although a meeting in Russia next month is likely to consider further steps to support the market. OPEC and allied non-OPEC producers agreed on May 25 to extend an existing supply cut into 2018, but oil has fallen sharply then on rising production from the United States and from Nigeria and Libya, two OPEC members exempt from cutting output. "I doubt it will be considered soon," said an OPEC delegate, referring to the chance of a larger cut.
Rosneft Cuts Oil Output Temporarily
Russia's Rosneft is ready to resume full oil output quickly once OPEC-led cuts end as the country's top producer has focused its own cuts on newer fields, its chief executive has said. Those cuts run until June 30, though oil ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC countries meeting in Vienna this week are expected to agree to extend a deal that has seen 22 countries reduce global output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) since January 1. "Restrictions (under the OPEC deal) are mainly applied to greenfields," Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin told reporters last week, referring to newer oil fields.
Full Tanks & Tankers: A Stubborn Oil Glut Despite OPEC Cuts
After the first OPEC oil production cut in eight years took effect in January, oil traders from Houston to Singapore started emptying millions of barrels of crude from storage tanks. Investors hailed the drawdowns as the beginning of the end of a two-year supply glut - raising hopes for steadily rising per-barrel prices. It hasn't worked out that way. Now, many of those same storage tanks are filling back up or draining more slowly than investors and oil firms had expected, according to global inventory estimates…
Growing U.S. Shale Activity Confounds OPEC
As oilfield workers for Lilis Energy Inc threaded together drill pipes one recent morning in the Permian Basin, a bulldozer cleared sagebrush to make way for the company's fifth well since January. Lilis aims to expand production sevenfold this year in America's most active oilfield. The whir of activity is all the more impressive after the small firm nearly collapsed in late 2015 - amid unrestrained production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). As per-barrel prices plummeted, Lilis piled on debt and struggled to pay workers.
Titans of Oil World Meet in Houston After 2-yr Price War
The biggest names in the oil world come together this week for the largest industry gathering since the end of a two-year price war that pitted Middle East exporters against the firms that drove the shale energy revolution in the United States. When OPEC in November joined with several non-OPEC producers to agree to a historic cut in output, the group called time on a fight for market share that drove oil prices to a 12-year low and many shale producers to the wall. Oil prices are about 70 percent higher than they were the last time oil ministers and the chief executives of Big Oil met in Houston a year ago at CERAWeek…
Oil Hovers Above Four-month Lows, Inventories Curb Recovery
Oil prices hovered above four-month lows on Thursday, with a recovery reined in by investor concerns that OPEC-led supply cuts were not yet reducing record U.S. crude inventories. Benchmark Brent crude oil was trading at $50.49 a barrel by 1315 GMT, down 15 cents on the day but still above Wednesday's slide to $49.71, its lowest level since Nov. 30 when OPEC announced plans to cut output. U.S. light crude slipped 18 cents at $47.86. Brent remains well below this year's high above $58, reached shortly after Jan.
