Demand Expectations Helped Stop Further Drops In Oil – 17 December, 2019

Demand expectations for next year helped halt oil prices from falling further after they dipped on U.S. industry data showing crude inventories have built up. Brent crude futures fell 0.5% or 33 cents to $65.77 per barrel, erasing some gains from the previous session. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.71% or 43 cents to $60.51 per barrel. Crude inventories in the U.S rose 4.7 million barrels last week, with analysts initially expecting a 1.3 million barrel decline. The decline comes after the oil benchmark was eased on the announcement on progress of phase one of the U.S.- China trade deal. Since January 1 2019 OPEC has managed to lower oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day.