Crude oil prices ease on prospects of higher world supplies

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Crude oil futures lost more ground on Monday as the market was weighed down by U.S. output climbing to a record-high and expectations that OPEC members will raise supplies.

Global benchmark Brent () was down 34 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $76.45 a barrel by 0531 GMT, falling for a second session.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude () futures dipped 3 cents to $65.78 a barrel. Last week, the market lost around 3 percent, adding to a near 5-percent decline from a week before.

“Crude oil remained under pressure as the market remained focused on the discussion between OPEC members about whether they should increase production later this year,” ANZ said in a note.

“In the U.S., the data also presented a gloomy picture. Crude oil production rose to another record, while drilling activity picked up again.”

“We are going into summer, the high demand season, and I think we are going to see a fall in U.S. crude oil inventories, but shale oil output is growing. Which one is going to win is the issue,” said Tony Nunan, oil risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.

Saudi Arabia, effective leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and Russia have discussed boosting output to compensate for supply losses from Venezuela and to address concerns about the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iranian output.

Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft (MM:) will be able to restore 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil output in just two days if global production limits are lifted, Renaissance Capital wrote in a client note.

U.S. crude production climbed in March to 10.47 million barrels per day (bpd), a monthly record, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.

U.S. drillers added two oil rigs in the week to June 1, bringing the total to 861, the most since March 2015, General Electric Co’s (N:) Baker Hughes energy services firm said on Friday. That was the eighth time drillers have added rigs in the past nine weeks.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their bullish wagers on U.S. crude futures and options, according to data released on Friday, as oil prices slumped on oversupply fears.

The speculator group cut its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 50,937 contracts to 370,980 during the week to May 29, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.

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