Oil prices rose on Monday as a weaker dollar and the delay of new Libyan oil exports boosted benchmarks, amid expectations of tighter crude supply going into 2017.<\/p>\n
Brent crude futures traded at $55.47 per barrel at 0946 GMT, up 26 cents from their last close.<\/p>\n
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 30 cents at $52.20 a barrel.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the increases, which built on gains of around 2 percent on Friday, were driven by a delay in crude oil supplies from Libya.<\/p>\n
“It looks like the Libyan story and the weaker U.S. dollar are counterbalancing” bearish factors, said Tamas Varga, analyst with PVM Oil Associates.<\/p>\n
“We should expect higher prices in the near-term future.”<\/p>\n
Late last week, a group guarding oil infrastructure in Libya said it had reopened a long-blockaded pipeline leading from the oilfields of Sharara and El Feel, but a separate group had prevented a production restart at El Feel.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the U.S. dollar fell back against a basket of other currencies since hitting 2002 highs last week. A strong dollar makes oil more expensive for holders of other currencies. [MKTS\/GLOB]<\/p>\n
Some expected the strength in oil prices to continue into early 2017 due to a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers to cut almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in oil output from January.<\/p>\n
“With investors now expecting a relatively high level of compliance with the production-cut agreements, prices should be well supported,” ANZ bank said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Despite this, there were factors that cast a shadow on markets, preventing prices from rising more.<\/p>\n
In the United States, which did not participate in the output-reduction deal, drilling for new oil has increased for seven straight weeks.<\/p>\n
Drillers added 12 oil rigs in the week to Dec. 16, bringing the total count to 510, the highest since January, though still below 541 rigs a year ago, energy services firm Baker Hughes said on Friday.<\/p>\n
“Since its trough on May 27, 2016, producers have added 194 oil rigs (+61 percent) in the U.S.,” U.S. bank Goldman Sachs said.<\/p>\n
As a result, U.S. oil production is edging up, rising from below 8.5 million bpd in July to almost 8.8 million bpd by mid-December.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
-Source: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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