Oil Rises Above $50 as OPEC Trims Exports, Sets Meeting on Cuts

Futures rose 0.9 percent in a last-minute surge, extending gains from the biggest weekly rally this year. OPEC will meet with allies in Abu Dhabi next week to discuss compliance with their output-cut accord. U.S. crude imports from member countries slipped 2.6 percent in May, and some of the group’s leading exporters have pledged to reduce shipments next month.

“There’s been some constructive developments coming out of OPEC,” Tamar Essner, an energy analyst at Nasdaq Inc. in New York, said by telephone. “The data out of OPEC has been bearish.”

Oil has rebounded on growing signs that the market is coming back into balance, with futures climbing above the 200-day moving average last week for the first time since May.  Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait promised to reduce crude exports. U.S. crude stockpiles have been on a steady decline and are estimated to have dropped further last week.

The market resisted $50 for most of the morning, but a last-minute jump might have been driven by short-sellers pulling out, John Macaluso, a trader at Tyche Capital Advisors LLC in New York, said by telephone.

“Whatever shorts that were trying to play that $50 a barrel level were just taking trades off at the end of the day,” he said. A lot of investors reconsider “their convictions, especially when you get to the tipping point of $50.”
more at:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-31/oil-rises-above-50-before-opec-meet-to-discuss-cut-compliance