Oil prices are down slightly on Monday after a jump last week following a decision by a number of OPEC+ countries, including Saudi Arabia, to further cut production.
U.S. and European stock exchanges were closed on Friday due to the Easter holiday.
The price of June futures for Brent crude oil on London’s ICE Futures exchange was $85 a barrel by 8:05 a.m. Monday, down $0.12 (0.14%) from the previous session’s close. Those contracts rose $0.13 (0.2%) to $85.12 a barrel on Thursday.
The price of WTI futures for May oil at NYMEX fell by $0.09 (0.11%) to $80.61 per barrel by that time. At the end of previous session the contracts value grew by $0.09 (0.1%) to $80.7 per barrel.
Brent gained 6.6% and WTI gained almost 6.7%.
The market’s attention this week is fixed on monthly reviews of OPEC and International Energy Agency (IEA) on oil market and also on US Department of Energy data on energy reserves in the country.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported a decline in both oil and gasoline and distillate inventories in the states.
“Economic statistical data will be key for the oil market this week,” notes Saxo Capital Markets Pte analyst Charu Chanana.
The recent decision to cut production by a number of OPEC+ countries “was partly designed to squeeze short sellers out of the oil market, and oil prices may now be better able to reflect market fundamentals,” Bloomberg quotes the expert as saying.
Oil prices show a strong rebound Monday morning after a number of OPEC+ alliance countries, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, announced additional production cuts.
June Brent futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $83.82 a barrel by 8:10 a.m. Q, up $3.93 (4.92%) from the previous session’s closing price. At the close of trading last Friday those contracts grew by $0.50 (0.6%) to $79.77 per barrel.
The price of WTI crude oil futures for May at the electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $79.51 per barrel by that time, which is $3.84 (5.07%) above the final value of the previous session. The contract rose by $1.3 (1.8%) to $75.67 a barrel on Friday.
Brent dropped 4.9% in March and 7% in the first quarter, writes MarketWatch. Futures on WTI have lost 1.8% and 5.7%, respectively, and the monthly decline was the fifth consecutive for the North American brand.
On Sunday evening, 8 of the 20 OPEC+ countries announced a voluntary reduction in oil production from May until the end of the year. The announcement was made ahead of Monday’s meeting of the OPEC+ monitoring committee (JMMC).
Interfax estimated the total reduction in oil production to be about 1.657 million bpd, of which 500,000 bpd would come from the deal’s leaders, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Non-OPEC countries, such as Kazakhstan, are going to reduce production by 78 thousand bpd, and Oman – by 40 thousand bpd. Among the OPEC members, the production is going to be reduced by 144,000 bpd in the UAE, 128,000 bpd in Kuwait, 211,000 bpd in Iraq, 48,000 bpd in Algeria and 8,000 bpd in Gabon.
“Producers are clearly unhappy with the recent drop (in oil prices – IF), which was more speculative than caused by fundamental factors. They are likely to be able to get quotes back above $80 a barrel, plus they are trying to respond preemptively to a smaller-than-expected increase in global oil demand in the coming months,” Saxo Bank analysts Ole Hansen said in an interview with MarketWatch.
“The Saudi oil minister likes to take the market by surprise, especially when it could hurt downside speculators,” he added.
Oil prices rise for the third session in a row on data about reduction of fuel reserves in the USA and easing of fears about the crisis in the banking sector, writes MarketWatch.
The cost of May futures for Brent at London’s ICE Futures Exchange is $78.83 a barrel by 8:05 a.m., which is $0.18 (0.23%) above the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $0.53 (0.7%) to $78.65 a barrel at the close of trading on Tuesday.
The price of WTI futures for May at electronic trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $73.64 per barrel by that time, which is $0.44 (0.6%) above the final value of the previous session. The day before, the contract rose $0.39 (0.5%) to $73.2 a barrel.
“Market participants were trying to assess what effect the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the merger of Credit Suisse and UBS would have on the overall market,” wrote Price Futures Group senior analyst Phil Flynn. – However, the effect could be positive, as the banking crisis could force the world’s central banks to slow the pace of rate hikes.”
The American Petroleum Institute (API) data released on Tuesday night, Wednesday, indicated a 6.08 million-barrel decline in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended March 24. Gasoline inventories fell 5.89 million barrels and distillates rose 548,000 barrels.
The official report on energy reserves in the United States will be released at 5:30 pm on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Trading Economics expect a slight increase in oil reserves by about 100,000 barrels.
Oil prices growth was also pushed up by the decision of the International Chamber of Commerce arbitration court in a lawsuit against Turkey, which challenged the export of oil from Kurdistan. The export of oil from the North of Iraq was halted on March 25. The volume of transportation through Turkey was about 400 thousand barrels of oil per day.
Oil prices of benchmark grades are declining in trading on Tuesday after reaching their highest levels in the last two weeks a day earlier.
At 8:01 a.m., May futures for Brent at ICE Futures Exchange in London stood at $77.8 per barrel, down $0.32 (0.4%) from the previous session’s close. Those contracts rose by $3.13 (4.2%) to $78.12 per barrel at Monday’s trading.
WTI futures for May at electronic trades of NYMEX decreased by $0.04, to $72.77 per barrel. Contracts rose $3.55 (5.1%) to $72.81 a barrel in the previous session.
“The crystal ball, which was clouded by the banking crisis, now shows an opportunity for profit in the oil market,” believes Manish Raj, managing director of Velandera Energy Partners. According to him, “After the disorderly sell-off in mid-March, cooler thinking has begun to prevail as traders see falling oil prices as a good entry point into the market,” MarketWatch reports.
However, analysts continue to fear the possibility of a recession in the U.S. economy, which is weighing on the market, Trading Economics reported.
Oil prices show moderate growth on Monday morning after a strong rise last week.
The value of May futures for Brent on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $75.12 a barrel by 8:07 a.m., $0.13 (0.17%) above the previous session’s closing price. At the close of trading last Friday those contracts fell by $0.92 (1.2%) to $74.99 per barrel.
The price of WTI futures for May at the electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $69.4 per barrel by that time, which is $0.14 (0.2%) above the final value of the previous session. The contract fell by $0.7 per barrel to $69.26 last Friday.
Brent gained 2.8% and WTI gained 3.5% last week, slightly recovering from a collapse to multi-year lows a week earlier.
“Oil prices, largely a victim of volatility in global markets, managed to recover in the short term, although Brent is still worth 10% less than it was at the beginning of the year,” said Barbara Lambrecht, a commodities analyst at Commerzbank. – On the one hand, this is due to still high risks and on the other hand to unexpectedly high supply levels.”
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management pointed to good indicators on the Chinese economy and predicted that the oil market may show a small deficit by mid-year.
Meanwhile, the number of active oil rigs in the U.S. rose 4 units to 593 last week, oil services company Baker Hughes said. The week before, the figure fell to a nine-month low.
Oil prices intensified their fall on Friday afternoon amid general volatility in global financial markets.
May futures on Brent at London’s ICE Futures Exchange fell by $2.47 (3.25%) to $73.44 a barrel by 12:56 pm.
By the same time quotations of WTI futures on the electronic trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) decreased by $2.46 (3.52%) – to $67.5 per barrel.
The day before Brent fell 1% and WTI – 1.3%, decreasing for the first time in four sessions on fears that the willingness of the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further may lead to a recession in the U.S. economy.
Quotes continued to fall on Friday on a new wave of declines in European bank stocks and a stronger dollar. A strong dollar makes commodities less attractive to holders of other currencies.
Oil could end the first quarter in a record decline since early 2020 due to fears of a U.S. recession and banking sector problems while supplies remain high, Bloomberg notes.
“The banking crisis is spreading into real estate and the stock market has lost risk appetite again,” wrote Ole Sloth Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. – The dollar is strengthening and U.S. and especially European stocks are actively falling, which is putting pressure on the commodities sector.”
