Futures added 0.3 percent after retreating 0.4 percent earlier. The U.S. government expects major shale regions to boost output by 131,000 barrels a day in April, spurring fears that surging supplies will undermine OPEC’s efforts to clear a glut. Sentiment is being soured further by a forecast increase in U.S. inventories, a third consecutive weekly gain.
Oil has struggled to recover losses from last month’s broader market slump after topping $66 a barrel in January. While a brighter economic outlook has underpinned demand expectations following a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report, expanding American production remains a challenge to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, which are trying to prop up prices via output curbs.
Production from shale regions will reach 6.95 million barrels a day next month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly drilling report. The Permian Basin is seen leading the way with an 80,000-barrel increase. Total American output has passed 10 million barrels a day, beating a record set in 1970.
U.S. crude inventories probably expanded by 1.9 million barrels in the week through March 9, according to a Bloomberg survey before EIA data on Wednesday. Meanwhile, stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI futures, probably held steady after 11 straight weeks of declines.
more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-13/oil-holds-loss-as-u-s-shale-output-forecast-to-expand-in-april