Oil Slumps To Close Out Biggest 3-Day Loss In A Year
NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - Oil skidded again on Friday, pushing prices to three-month lows as investors continued to flee bullish positions on worries that OPEC-led production cuts have not yet reduced a global glut of crude.
U.S. crude slumped nearly 9 percent since Tuesday's close, the biggest three-day decline since February of 2016. The bullish outlook that prevailed for most of the last few months has been undercut by persistently high inventory figures, and was instrumental in herding speculators to the exits in the latter half of this week.
U.S. crude settled down 79 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $48.49 a barrel, while Brent crude ended down 82 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $51.37 a barrel.
Selling appeared to accelerate in the afternoon after U.S. crude fell through the 200-day moving average of $48.68 a barrel.
Prices began to slide earlier this week, after news of another big rise in U.S. crude inventories to record highs. On Friday, oil services firm Baker Hughes reported another weekly increase in the U.S. drilling rig count.
"We have not seen production cuts undertaken by the world's producers really alleviate the overhang in inventories," said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
On Thursday, U.S. crude tumbled below $50 a barrel for the first time since December. Major oil producers like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates expressed worries that the resurgent U.S. shale industry would undo their efforts to restrict supply.
U.S. oil and gas drilling has picked up, with producers planning to expand production in North Dakota, Oklahoma and other shale regions, while output has jumped in the Permian, America's largest oilfield.
U.S. drillers added eight rigs in the latest week, lifting the rig count to 617, its highest since September of 2015, Baker Hughes said.
Senior Saudi officials told U.S. oil companies in a closed-door meeting they should not assume OPEC would extend output curbs to offset rising U.S. production, industry sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Separately, Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazrouei, energy minister for the United Arab Emirates, told Reuters this week the rise in U.S. inventories was a "worry," and that "investors need to be cautious not to bring so much production on line."
That has cast doubt on how long OPEC will be willing to cut output if prices keep falling. Ministers from Saudi Arabia and Iraq said this week at an energy conference in Houston that it was too early to consider whether cuts would be extended beyond June.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other exporters including Russia agreed last year to cut output by around 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017, but so far the move has had little impact on inventory levels.
U.S. crude inventories swelled 8.2 million barrels last week to a record 528.4 million barrels.
12
View Full Article
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- Weatherford CEO's Rebound Plan Relies On Getting Smaller
- Iran Says Oil Market Is Too Tight For US Zero Exports Target
- China's Squeezed 'Teapots' Eye Petchem Path To Riches
- Baker Hughes: US Drillers Add Oil Rigs For Second Week In Three
- Venezuela Hands China More Oil Presence, But No Mention Of New Funds
- Blockchain Demands Attention in Oil and Gas
- Macquarie Sees USA Oil Production Exiting 2024 at 14MM Barrels Per Day
- CNPC Opens Sea-Land Oil Storage and Transport Facility in Bangladesh
- Oman Sees Increasing Ship-to-Ship Transfers of Russian Oil Bound for India
- US Govt Makes Record Investment of $6B for Industrial Decarbonization
- Perenco Still Searching for Missing Person After Platform Incident
- Eni, Fincantieri, RINA Ink Deal on Maritime Decarbonization
- Oil Falls as US Inventories Increase
- Czech Utility CEZ Bucks Weaker Prices, Demand to Log Record Annual Profit
- Ithaca Energy Studies Deal for Eni's UK Upstream Assets
- Equinor Makes Discovery in North Sea
- Standard Chartered Reiterates $94 Brent Call
- India Halts Russia Oil Supplies From Sanctioned Tanker Giant
- DOI Announces Proposal for Second GOM Offshore Wind Auction
- Centcom, Dryad Outline Recent Moves Around Red Sea Region
- PetroChina Set to Receive Venezuelan Oil
- Czech Conglomerate to Buy Major Stake in Gasnet for $917MM
- US DOE Offers $44MM in Funding to Boost Clean Power Distribution
- Oil Settles Lower as Stronger Dollar Offsets Tighter Market
- UK Grid Operator Receives Aid to Advance Rural Decarbonization
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Major Oilfield Discovery
- VIDEO: Missile Attack Kills Crew Transiting Gulf of Aden
- Norway Regulator Blasts Proposal to Halt New Oil and Gas Permits
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Another Major Oilfield Discovery
- What Is the Biggest Risk to Offshore Oil and Gas Personnel in 2024?
- Vessel Sinks in Red Sea After Missile Strike
- Exxon Rights in Stabroek Do Not Apply to Hess Merger with Chevron: Hess
- Analysts Reveal Latest Oil Price Outlook Following OPEC+ Cut Extension
- Equinor Makes Discovery in North Sea
- Standard Chartered Reiterates $94 Brent Call