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Crude Oil Prices - Weekly Outlook: July 16 - 20

Published 07/15/2018, 06:26 AM
Updated 07/15/2018, 06:26 AM
© Reuters.  Oil prices post second straight weekly loss as supply concerns ease

© Reuters. Oil prices post second straight weekly loss as supply concerns ease

Investing.com - Global supply prospects will remain at the forefront of the oil market in the coming week, after prices posted sharp losses last week amid reduced bets on a global crude shortage.

Oil prices traded near three-and-a-half-year highs close to $80 a barrel in late June and early July due to Libyan supply disruptions and fears the U.S. would press all buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero starting from November, when the U.S. reimposes sanctions against Tehran.

But prices have since weakened as OPEC member Libya reopened its ports in the east and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would consider granting waivers to some of Iran's crude buyers.

The resumption of Libyan exports allows the return of as much as 850,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude into international markets.

Rising OPEC output also weighed on sentiment as the oil-cartel revealed last week its members had increased output last month, led by a rise in Saudi output to levels not seen since the output-cut agreement in 2016, easing concerns that the market would be short of oil.

The world's top oil exporter and OPEC's biggest producer pledged last month it would raise output to make up for lost supplies out of Libya, Venezuela and Iran.

But the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the world was short of spare supply capacity and hence any new disruption could further elevate oil prices. The Paris-based organization also said demand for crude oil will be softer than previously expected in the second half of the year.

U.S. benchmark oil, August West Texas Intermediate crude, settled at $71.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by close of trade on Friday. The contract sank to as low as $69.23 a barrel Thursday, a level not seen since June 25.

It lost 4.4% for the week, marking its second straight weekly loss.

Elsewhere, September Brent crude, the global benchmark, finished the week at $75.33 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Brent suffered a weekly loss of around 2.9%.

Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of the main events likely to affect the oil market.

Tuesday, July 17

The American Petroleum Institute is to publish its weekly report on U.S. oil supplies.

Wednesday, July 18

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil stockpiles.

Friday, July 20

Baker Hughes will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count. The rig count remained steady at 863 last week. The rate of growth has slowed over the past month or so with a decline in crude prices from late May through late June.

Latest comments

Talk of Trump leveraging US reserves, Iran in a scramble to produce and sell as much as possible, and demand slowing down because of trade war worries... combine all of that with a melt-up in prices and your looking at a correction down into the $65-67 levels.
Tension between Israel and Hamas could also increase the price of oil. Don’t think so?
Yes i think this mybe
I'm confused... how many barrels of crude does a terror org like Hamas produce per day?
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