jeudi 19 mars 2015
Oil Slump Extends to a Fifth Week as Global Glut Seen Expanding
Posted on 23:07 by nice news
Oil trading near the lowest price in six years is headed for a fifth weekly drop amid signs the global supply glut is worsening.
Futures were little changed in New York after falling for the seventh time in eight days on Thursday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries needs to keep its output target unchanged to maintain market share, said Kuwait, the group’s third-largest producer. Iran may increase oil exports within months of reaching a deal on its nuclear program, according to U.S. and European officials.
Oil has renewed its slump after losing almost 50 percent last year as U.S. crude stockpiles expand to the highest levels in more than three decades, even as drillers idled the number of active rigs to the fewest since 2011. OPEC maintained its quota at 30 million barrels a day in November, resisting calls to curb output amid surging supply from shale producers.
“The demand-supply imbalance is going to need to be fixed by an adjustment to supply,” Ric Spooner, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “Traders are waking up to the harsh reality of the U.S. inventory builds and it’s getting difficult to ignore that.”
West Texas Intermediate for April delivery was at $43.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 18 cents, at 12:59 p.m. Sydney time. The contract, which expires on Friday, closed at $43.46 on March 17, the lowest since March 2009. The volume of all futures traded was about 68 percent below the 100-day average.
OPEC Policy
Futures were little changed in New York after falling for the seventh time in eight days on Thursday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries needs to keep its output target unchanged to maintain market share, said Kuwait, the group’s third-largest producer. Iran may increase oil exports within months of reaching a deal on its nuclear program, according to U.S. and European officials.
Oil has renewed its slump after losing almost 50 percent last year as U.S. crude stockpiles expand to the highest levels in more than three decades, even as drillers idled the number of active rigs to the fewest since 2011. OPEC maintained its quota at 30 million barrels a day in November, resisting calls to curb output amid surging supply from shale producers.
“The demand-supply imbalance is going to need to be fixed by an adjustment to supply,” Ric Spooner, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “Traders are waking up to the harsh reality of the U.S. inventory builds and it’s getting difficult to ignore that.”
West Texas Intermediate for April delivery was at $43.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 18 cents, at 12:59 p.m. Sydney time. The contract, which expires on Friday, closed at $43.46 on March 17, the lowest since March 2009. The volume of all futures traded was about 68 percent below the 100-day average.
OPEC Policy
Oil Slump Extends to a Fifth Week as Global Glut Seen Expanding
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