Oil prices dip as rising U.S. output offsets OPEC-led cuts – 31 Jan, 2017
Oil prices dipped on Tuesday as rising U.S. drilling activity offset efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.16 per barrel at 0421 GMT, down 7 cents from their last close.
Since their January peak, Brent has lost over 5.5 percent in value.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $52.44 a barrel, down 19 cents from their previous settlement, and WTI is down 2.85 percent since its January peak.
The falls reflect a sentiment that efforts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output by almost 1.8 barrel per day (bpd) in order to end overproduction were so far not big enough to offset rising U.S. drilling.
“Crude oil prices continued to struggle as traders remained concerned about increasing drilling activity in the U.S.,” ANZ bank said on Tuesday.
Following months of rising drilling activity, U.S. oil production C-OUT-T-EIA has risen by 6.3 percent since July last year to almost 9 million bpd, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
U.S. bank Goldman Sachs estimates that year-on-year U.S. oil “production will rise by 290,000 bpd in 2017” if a backlog on rigs that are still to become operational is accounted for.
With the differing outlook between global oil markets and that in the United States, traders said a renewed focus on the spread between Brent and WTI futures has emerged.
The Brent premium over WTI for March delivery is currently over $2.7 per barrel, reflecting a tighter global market as OPEC’s cuts bite and a more oversupplied U.S. as drilling continues to rise.
Yet by November this year, this Brent premium is down to just over $1 a barrel.
“You’ve already seen U.S. crude coming into Asia and Europe, as traders take advantage of arbitrage between the U.S. and the rest of the world,” one crude trader in Singapore said. “But at some stage, that exported U.S. crude will get priced into the global market and out of the American one, bringing down the spread between Brent and WTI.”
Source: Reuters