In Oil & Companies News 01/07/2016
Brent crude held below $50 a barrel after the biggest quarterly increase since 2009 as falling U.S. supply added to speculation the global surplus is easing.
Futures fell 0.3 percent in London after prices climbed 25 percent in the three months through June. U.S. crude supplies shrank a sixth week and production slipped to the lowest since September 2014, government data showed Wednesday.
Supply disruptions and falling U.S. output have pushed prices up more than 75 percent from a decade low in January. While pledges from central banks have halted a rout in global markets following the U.K.’s decision to break with the European Union, both the International Energy Agency and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast the oil market is heading toward a supply and demand balance, boosting prices.
“Oil has been relatively unscathed by the Brexit vote and as the market turns its attention to key economic figures keep an eye on market fundamentals,” Jens Pedersen, an analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Oslo, said by e-mail. “Oil prices will to a large extent mirror risk sentiment.”
Brent for September settlement fell as much as 26 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $49.45 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $49.51 as of 9:51 a.m. local time. The August contract, which expired Thursday, fell 93 cents, or 1.8 percent, to close at $49.68 a barrel.
U.S. Stockpiles
West Texas Intermediate for August delivery declined as much as 22 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $48.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.55, or 3.1 percent, to settle at $48.33 on Thursday. The total volume traded was about 49 percent below the 100-day average.
U.S. crude inventories dropped to 526.6 million barrels, the lowest since the week ended March 11, the Energy Information Administration said. Supplies climbed to an 87-year high of 543.4 million barrels in the last week of April. Production slipped by 55,000 barrels a day to 8.62 million last week, the EIA said.
Norway is facing the first oil worker strike since 2012 as government-mediated talks for platform workers approach a Friday midnight deadline. Should the talks fail, more than 700 workers will walk off the job and shut about 6 percent of the oil and gas output in western Europe’s largest producer, according to the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association.
Oil-market news:
- Exxon Mobil’s oil discovery off the coast of Guyana may hold as much as 1.4 billion barrels, twice the size of the previous estimate, making it potentially worth about $70 billion based on current prices.
- State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. lowered its official selling price for Arab Light crude to Asia by 40 cents to a premium of 20 cents a barrel above a regional benchmark, the company known as Saudi Aramco said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. Middle Eastern producers are competing with cargoes from Latin America, North Africa and Russia for buyers in Asia, its largest market.
- Chevron may shortly give a green light to the most expensive oil project in the world this year. The company said this week in a presentation a decision on expanding the Tengiz development in Kazakhstan will be made in mid-2016.
Source: Bloomberg
