Crude Oil Gains In Asia As Supply Curbs Bite, API Estimates Awaited

Investing.com – Crude oil prices gained in Asia on Tuesday with sentiment upbeat on continued OPEC-led supply curb compliance and as investors awaited weekly industry estimates of US inventories.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for February delivery rose 0.68% to $62.15 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, gained 0.32% to $68.12 a barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute reports its weekly estimates of US inventories of crude and refined products later Tuesday.

Initial analyst estimates see a 4.1 million barrels dip in crude supplies, a 900,000 barrels build in distillate inventories and a 2.740 gain in gasoline stocks. Official data come out on Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration.

Traders also noted support for prices from a Reuters report that said a senior OPEC source from a major Middle Eastern oil producer said OPEC was monitoring unrest in Iran, as well as Venezuela’s economic crisis, but will boost output only if there are significant and sustained production disruptions from those countries.

Elsewhere, Iran said on Monday it might reconsider its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog if the United States failed to respect its commitments in the nuclear deal Tehran struck with world powers in 2015.

Overnight, prices settled higher on Monday as investors continued to weigh data showing falling US rig counts despite rising US production while ongoing expectations for strong OPEC cuts added to sentiment.

Oil prices held gains as data showing US oil rigs declined came against expectations for a rise in US crude production above an important 10 million barrels per day level as the recent surge in oil prices is expected to encourage US shale oil production.

The number of oil rigs operating in the U.S. fell by five to 742, according to data from energy services firm Baker Hughes.

US production is expected to soon rise above 10 million barrels per day after the EIA reported last week that oil production rose to 28,000 barrels a day to nearly 9.8 million barrels a day,

Rising US production has weighed on OPEC’s efforts to reduce supply amid the oil-cartel’s ongoing commitment to the global deal to curb output in order to rein in global supplies to the five–year average.

OPEC production rose to 32.40 million bpd in December, representing a 50,000 bpd increase from November’s six-month low, but still below the ceiling of 32.74 million bpd, an S&P Global Platts survey showed Monday. OPEC in November agreed to extend 1.2 million bpd output cuts through 2018 to rid the market of excess supplies.

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