Oil prices rose early on April 22 as the Asian markets opened, with Brent hitting its highest level since November, driven up by a decline in U.S. drilling activity and ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC.
Oil futures edged up on Thursday as a drop in crude exports from OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and a draw in U.S. drilling rigs and oil inventories supported prices.
OPEC and other producers including Russia have gradually tightened supply through 2019 to reduce a global glut. OPEC and its partners may not renew the curbs when they expire after June because of the risk of over-tightening the market.
In the week since our last edition of What’s Affecting Oil Prices, Brent rose $1.68/bbl last week to average $71.16/bbl, almost perfectly in line with our expectations.
Oil prices nudged lower on April 15 after international benchmark Brent hit a fresh five-month high in the previous session, with investors eyeing mixed signals on global supply.
Iran's oil minister said on April 14 that U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela and tensions in Libya have made the supply-demand balance in the global oil market fragile, and warned of consequences for increasing pressures on Tehran.
Pipeline companies are requiring produces to segregate West Texas Light oil from WTI.
Venezuela output fall and Iran sanctions tightening market.
As a major supplier of oil and gas to Europe and starting point for migrant flows into Italy, much is at stake if the country slips into further turmoil.
Rising U.S. crude stocks dragged oil lower on April 11 but prices continued to find a floor as OPEC-led cuts and freefalling Venezuelan output tightened global supplies.
