Oil Trades Near $57 as U.S. Crude Stockpiles Seen Extending Drop

Futures rose 0.7 percent in New York after slipping 0.2 percent on Monday. Inventories probably lost 3 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before Energy Information Administration data Wednesday. Nigerian oil workers suspended strike action and agreed to continue talks next month, while output from a Libyan field returned to normal after a power outage.

Oil has rallied the past three months as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies reduce supply to drain a global glut. The unprecedented cooperation among producers, which has now been extended until the end of 2018, has crude prices on their way to a second annual advance.

“As long as the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia holds to curb production, oil prices will stay in the region of $60,” Paolo Scaroni, vice-chairman of NM Rothschild & Sons and former chief executive officer of Eni SpA, said in a Bloomberg television interview on Tuesday. “Oil prices are also OK for the shale-oil producers, which need a price of around $60 if they want to make some money. In total, the situation is stable.”

U.S. crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the nation’s biggest oil-storage hub, probably fell by 2.2 million barrels last week, according to a forecast compiled by Bloomberg. That would be a sixth weekly drop, the longest run since July, according to EIA data.
more at:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-19/oil-trades-near-57-as-u-s-crude-stockpiles-seen-extending-drop

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