Crude Oil Drifts Lower
Crude oil prices have eased back at the start of this week, with a barrel of Brent costing $62.25 and WTI $57.25.
Crude oil prices have eased back at the start of this week, with a barrel of Brent costing $62.25 and WTI $57.25.
Crude oil was unable to hold onto its gains on Monday after appearing for a while to have ended its bearish run. Oil prices have fallen for three consecutive weeks after the OPEC and Russia failed to surprise the markets with their decision to extend the oil production deal.
The price of oil has surged higher at the start of the new trading week. This has helped to lift energy stocks and also underpin commodity currencies such as the Canadian dollar (FXC, quote).
Market participants in crude oil are continuing to shrug off persistent jawboning from oil ministers of some OPEC countries, most notably Saudi Arabia, about extending the production cuts into the second half of 2017, and possibly the first quarter of 2018.
Crude oil prices surged a huge $3 dollars or 5% higher at the Asian open with Brent briefly trading north of $57 and WTI above $54 a barrel before pulling back slightly.
For obvious reasons, all the focus is on the OPEC meeting. As we pointed out the possibility yesterday, oil prices have bounced back very strongly today on renewed hopes that oil ministers will, after all, be able to hammer out a deal later on to limit crude production.
News that the UK manufacturing activity in September hit its highest level since June 2014 has provided a welcome relief for sterling.
Crude prices jumped in reaction to the latest weekly US crude stockpiles data but then quickly went into reverse gear, before bounce back once again.
Ahead of next week’s talks in Algeria, Reuters reported this morning that Saudi Arabia is apparently willing to reduce its oil output for as long as Iran agrees to freeze its production at current levels.
This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured markets that the Russian economy could withstand the drop in prices despite the ruble’s recent fall.