OPEC and its allies once again ratified a small monthly increase in production, even as global markets look set to tighten because the European Union is considering banning supplies from Russia.
OPEC and its allies agreed to revive more halted oil production, yet the group’s increasingly obvious struggles to fulfill its supply pledges left markets fearful of a potential shortfall.
The International Energy Agency cut forecasts for global oil demand “sharply” for the rest of this year as the resurgent pandemic hits major consumers, and predicted a new surplus in 2022.
A price war may be looming in the global oil market as rising output from OPEC+ and the Middle East boosts the competitiveness of the region’s shipments, potentially forcing other suppliers to discount their barrels.
Saudi Arabia reduced crude oil supplies to at least 11 refiners in Asia and most buyers in Europe after the kingdom volunteered to cut its production by 1 million barrels a day for February and March.
Oil markets could be saturated with millions of surplus barrels if OPEC+ fails to agree an extension to current production cuts, according to analysis from Rystad Energy.
By Javier Blas, Dina Khrennikova, Grant Smith and Salma El Wardany, Bloomberg
OPEC+ began two days of potentially complicated talks to hash out the size of its oil-production cuts next year, with the group’s president calling for caution in a fragile market.
By Salma El Wardany, Javier Blas, Grant Smith and Dina Khrennikova, Bloomberg
OPEC and its allies headed into a two-day meeting with ministers still seeking a compromise on proposals to delay a production boost, after failing to reach consensus in talks on Sunday night.
Libya’s oil industry reached a milestone over the past week with the reopening of the last of its oil fields and ports following a truce in a years-long civil war.
With the shackles of OPEC’s output limits thrown off and a price war under way, the group’s biggest oil producers are preparing to churn out more barrels to protect market share.
Saudi Arabia and other key producers in OPEC signaled their intention to keep oil supplies constrained for the rest of the year, while pledging to prevent any genuine shortages.
Oil headed for a monthly gain as expectations that American sanctions on Iranian crude will tighten global markets outweighed the risk to demand from the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute.
Oil pared the biggest weekly decline in more than two months as the dollar extended its retreat, increasing the appeal of commodities priced in the U.S. currency.
The global oil surplus in the first half of this year will probably be smaller than previously estimated because of robust demand in India and other emerging nations, the International Energy Agency said.
Growth in global oil demand will ease to around 1.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2016, below the 1.8 mb/d expansion of last year, according to the International Energy Agency.
The influential International Energy Agency sees oil markets rebalancing in 2017 thanks to falling US production but the decline will prove short-lived as efficiency gains will push U.S. output to new records by the beginning of the next decade.
Job cuts, lack of capacity and failure to invest in field development could lead to a oil supply shortage in coming years, according to research by oil and gas consultants Rystad Energy.
Concerns about the climate change impact of burning the world's remaining oil resources mean the reserves will never be fully exploited, BP chief economist Spencer Dale has said.