Monday, 15 January 2018

Brent crude oil rises to $70 on output cuts, ignores North America rig gains

Brent crude oil prices rose to $70 a barrel on Monday, supported by ongoing output cuts led by OPEC and Russia, and ignoring a rise in U.S. and Canadian drilling activity that points to higher future output in North America. 


Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $70 per barrel at 0558 GMT, up 13 cents from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $64.53 a barrel, up 23 cents.

Both benchmarks last week reached levels not seen since December 2014, with Brent touching $70.05 a barrel and WTI reaching as high as $64.77.

ANZ bank said on Monday oil prices had recently risen on data that continued to show the market is tightening.

Oil markets have been well supported by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia which are aimed at propping up crude prices.

The cuts started in January last year and are set to last through 2018, and they have coincided with healthy demand growth, pushing up crude prices by more than 13 percent since early December.
But other factors, including political risk, have also supported crude.

No comments:

Post a Comment