Oil prices continue to decline
By Sara Israfilbayova
World oil prices continue to decline in the course of trading on Wednesday on data on unexpected increase of commodity stocks of fuel in the U.S.
Brent crude futures fell by 0.69 percent to $63.17 per barrel, meanwhile U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped by 0.31 percent to $57.68 per barrel.
The reason for the decline in oil prices was data on the increase in commodity stocks of fuel in the U.S.
The key event of this week will be a meeting of representatives of the largest oil-producing states, on November 30 in Vienna. The meeting will discuss the issue of extending the deal to reduce oil production.
Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi expects the oil-producing countries participating in the OPEC + agreement will decide to extend it.
The minister stressed that several options are being discussed for the duration, including six months, nine months and one year.
Answering the question whether Iraq itself supports the extension of the Vienna agreement, the minister replied: “Yes, of course.”
Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Oil Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei said that he’s “optimistic” on extending the cuts.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on November 28 that the volume of oil reserves in the U.S. increased by 1.8 million barrels, distillates - by 2.7 million barrels. The Institute receives information from operators of refineries, oil storages and pipelines on a voluntary basis.
“Prices may fall even further if API’s indicators are confirmed by government data, but until then investors will be paying attention to the meeting of major oil-producing countries on Thursday,” the Wall Street Journal analysts said.
Analysts on average forecast a decrease in oil reserves by 3 million barrels, as well as an increase in distillate stocks by only 160,000 barrels.
OPEC members decided to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day. Some non-OPEC countries, such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Sudan, and South Sudan promised to cut output by 600,000 barrels per day, beginning from January 1, 2017.
OPEC and non-OPEC countries decided to extend oil output cuts for nine months in Vienna on May 25.
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