Oil Prices Retreat on OPEC Output Boost
Climbing OPEC output, Russian exports outweigh weak dollar; falling U.S. production seen as price supportive.
Oil prices edged back from 2016 highs on Monday as rising production in the Middle East outweighed a decline in U.S. output and a sliding dollar.
Crude production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose in April to 32.64 million barrels per day (bpd), close to the highest level in recent history.
Iraq's April exports from southern fields increased, as did seaborne exports from Russia, the biggest exporter outside OPEC.
Brent was trading at $47.20 per barrel at 1130 GMT, down 17 cents from its last settlement. U.S. crude was down 2 cents at $45.90 a barrel.
On Friday, the June Brent contract expired at $48.13 a barrel, a 21.5 percent gain over the month that marked the largest monthly advance since May 2009. Earlier in that session it reached $48.50, a six-month high.
The U.S. oil rig count fell for the sixth week last week, which analysts said showed the price of oil had not risen enough to lure shale producers back.
"Despite the price rise, we continue to see a declining rig count," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst with SEB Bank in Oslo. "The message from the shale players is that...you don't need prices to fall more. It's already doing what it should do in order to rebalance."
The price slide, which came amid low liquidity due to the May Day holiday, contrasted with broader investor confidence in an oil price rebound.
Speculator bets on rising Brent crude prices reached a fresh record last week, data from the InterContinental Exchange showed on Monday, while money managers raised bullish bets on U.S. crude futures to a fresh 10-month highs in the week to April 26.
The chief of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said oil prices may have bottomed out if no major global economic issues emerge.
"In a normal economic environment, we will see the price direction is rather upwards than downwards," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Sunday during a G7 meeting of energy ministers in Japan.
Non-OPEC output is set to mark its biggest decline in around 20 years, Birol said.
At the G7 meeting, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said U.S. production would likely fall by 600,000 bpd this year from 2015, when output peaked at around 9.6 million bpd.
Last week, Texas-based Ultra Petroleum Corp, a victim of low oil and gas prices, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The IEA's Birol also said a drawdown in global stockpiles should start toward the end of the year, though some U.S. shale producers are using the price rally to hedge their production.
By Libby George
