16/11/2019
Oil prices rose yesterday after OPEC's forecast for crude demand next year fueled hopes that the Organization and its allies will keep supply cuts when they meet to discuss output policy next month.
Prices were also buoyed by optimism that the United States and China soon signed a deal to end their trade war after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said an agreement was "approaching," citing what he called "very constructive discussions" with Beijing.
Brent crude futures rose 1.06 cents, or 1.65 percent, to $ 63.30 a barrel, after dropping nine cents yesterday.
It increased WTI 93 cents, or 1.64 percent to record US $ 57.69 a barrel, after falling 0.6 percent during the previous session.
The monthly report issued by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showed that the average price of OPEC basket reached 59.91 dollars per barrel in October compared to 62.36 dollars a barrel in the previous month.
During the first ten months of this year, the average price of OPEC basket reached 63.91 dollars per barrel.
According to the monthly report, the production of the 14 OPEC members reached 29.65 million barrels per day in October, an increase of 943 thousand barrels per day from the previous month.
On the other hand, US oil production jumped by about 200 thousand barrels per day during the past week, to reach a new record after four weeks of stability.
The weekly report issued by the US Energy Information Administration revealed that the US production rose to 12.800 million barrels per day last week, compared to 12.600 million barrels per day recorded in the previous week.
Oil production is the US at its highest level ever in terms of weekly levels, after stability at a record level for the fourth time in a row.
The weekly report showed that oil exports in the United States rose by about 262 thousand barrels per day last week to reach 2.633 million barrels per day.
While the US imports of crude fell to 5.75 million barrels per day in the past week, representing a decrease of 327 thousand barrels per day from the levels of the previous week.
This means that the net US crude imports seen down 589 thousand barrels per day last week to record 3.117 million barrels per day.
US inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels last week compared to expectations which indicate 1.5 million barrels in the upward direction, while US gasoline inventories climbed up by about 1.9 million barrels in the week elapsed.
US natural gas inventories rose slightly over the past week but exceeded estimates.
The analysts' estimates suggest that US natural gas stocks will rise by two billion cubic feet per week elapsed.
On a year-on-year basis, natural gas inventories rose by 491 billion cubic feet over the same period last year.
By the end of the week, the price of natural gas futures for December delivery rose by 2.7 percent to $ 2.67 per million British thermal units.
