Investing.com – Crude settled more than 1% lower, despite a late slump in the dollar, after the release of the Federal Reserve Open Committee (FOMC) minutes.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for March delivery lost 1.42% to settle at $53.56 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent shed 0.77 cents to settle at $55.78 a barrel.
Despite the tick lower in global oil prices, crude futures remained near their 52-week high of $55.24, as positive comments from OPEC support prices amid hopes that OPEC may cut production further in an effort to combat the supply glut in the industry.
Speaking at the International Petroleum Week conference in London, Barkindo estimated that OPEC member states are about 90% in compliance with a global pact to cut production and noted the willingness of non-OPEC members to comply with the deal.
Mr. Barkindo’s comments were supported by an OPEC report last week, which revealed that OPEC and other producers, including Russia, were in high compliance with last year’s agreed production cut.
In November last year, The OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in an effort to combat the oversupply issue that has pressured prices over the last two years.
Meanwhile, market participants turn attention to crude oil inventories expected on Thursday at 11:00 ET, as concerns over record supply levels continue to mount.
Last week’s batch of U.S. energy reports from both the Energy information Agency (EIA) and oilfield services provider Baker Hughes, revealed a rise in U.S. crude inventories to record levels and an increase in the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil, respectively.