Crude-oil futures headed higher on Tuesday to start the month and third quarter, staging a recovery amid reports off weakening output in September from some of the world’s largest oil producers.
West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery CLX19, +0.72% gained 64 cents, or 1.2%, at $54.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after notching on Monday the lowest front-month contract finish since Sept. 3, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
November Brent crude BRNX19, -1.87%, was advancing 67 cents, or 1.1% to trade at $59.92 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, following its lowest level since Sept. 13, a day ago.
WTI, based on front-month contract prices, saw a 1.9% monthly decline, and lost 7.5% for the quarter. Brent scored a 0.6% monthly climb, but ended down 8.7% for the quarter.
A monthly Reuters survey showed that production from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as Russia and the U. S., hit its lowest level in eight years in September. The report indicated that among major producers for the month was 28.9 million barrel a day, down 750,000 barrels per day from a lowered figure in August and the lowest monthly total since 2011.
“[U.S. oil] is up around 1% today on news that OPEC, Russia, and the US have all cut production in latest reports available,” wrote Robert Yawger, director of energy at Mizuho USA.
On Monday, U.S. prices came under fresh pressure after Saudi Aramco Trading’s Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim al-Buainain confirmed that the state-owned operation had restored full output capacity on Sept. 25, to the level before the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi facilities, according to Reuters. The news report said that when asked if output was at 9.9 million barrels a day, al-Buainain said it was restored to its “target” level or even “a little higher.”
The attacks on the Saudi facilities, which the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have blamed on Iran, had briefly knocked more than 5 million barrels a day of Saudi crude production offline.
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