MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were higher in midmorning trade in Asia Nov. 19, extending gains from the overnight session after heavy mid-week losses, as investor confidence returned in a market still stuck in deficit, reported S&P Global.
At 10:15 am Singapore time (0215 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was up 40 cents/b (0.49%) from the previous close at USD81.64/b, while the NYMEX December light sweet crude contract rose 37 cents/b (0.47%) at USD79.38/b.
"Crude oil edged higher as the market debates the implications of releases from strategic oil reserves. The market also shrugged off concerns that new COVID-related restrictions would hurt demand," said ANZ Research analysts Brian Martin & Daniel Hynes in a note.
Oil markets have been through a rollercoaster few weeks as oil prices struggled to break past their post-pandemic highs of around USD86/b reached in late October.
Since then, the ICE Brent and NYMEX light sweet crude benchmarks have slid by close to 10% as a slew of bearish headlines, particularly the threat of a release of oil reserves by major oil consuming economies, pressured prices lower.
Analysts said that traders have mostly priced in the impact of any government action by now.
The US oil rig continued to climb as drillers took advantage of oil prices still hovering at multi-year highs despite recent declines. The domestic oil rig count rose by 16 to 541 for the week ended Nov. 17, energy analytics and software company Enverus said.
As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.
We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.
We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, EIA said in a monthly report earlier this year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC