• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 2 hours GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 7 days The United States produced more crude oil than any nation, at any time.
  • 1 hour Could Someone Give Me Insights on the Future of Renewable Energy?
  • 2 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy

Oil Continues To Rally On U.S. Crude Inventory Draw

Brent Oil passed the $35 per barrel mark this morning on U.S. inventory news and as speculators appeared to positively interpret yesterday’s news that Iran “supports” the idea of an output freeze at January levels put forward by Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela.

Brent crude rose 2.6 percent to $35.39 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI futures were trading up 3.2 percent at $31.64 a barrel.

Oil is likely to remain highly volatile as major producers continue to issue ambiguous statements. The 7 percent gain is being viewed as a market overreaction to headlines yesterday that Iran supported the January-level output freeze, but has not committed to an output cap itself and is unlikely to as it seeks to increase its own production by 500,000—fresh off sanctions.

Related: The Decline Of The Coal Industry Is “Long-Term” And “Irreversible”

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh noted, "The was decision taken so that OPEC members and non-OPEC countries freeze their production ceiling in a bid to stabilize the market and improve prices in the interest of consumer and producer is also supported by us."

Also contributing to the gains this morning were rumors of a drop in U.S. inventories. The American Petroleum Institute reportedly said that US crude supplies fell by 3.26 million barrels last week, but Bloomberg predicts that the US Energy Information Administration (EIA)—which will release inventory data later today—will show a stockpile increase of 3.5 million barrels.

Related: Why OPEC Production Freeze Could Pave The Way For Actual Cuts

A Tuesday Reuters poll showed analysts projecting US crude inventories to climb by 3.9 million barrels for the week to 12 February.

A survey of 10 analysts surveyed from The Wall Street Journal produced an average forecast for a 3.1 million barrel rise in oil inventories.

By James Burgess of Oilprice.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:



Join the discussion | Back to homepage



Leave a comment

Leave a comment

EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News