Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Oil headed for the longest stretch of weekly declines in almost two months amid signs that a global supply glut will expand.

Futures were little changed in New York after falling 2.3 percent on Thursday to a six-week low. Iran is in talks with buyers in Asia to sell more crude if sanctions on the Middle Eastern country are lifted, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions. U.S. drilling executives were in Washington this week to persuade White House officials and lawmakers to end the 40-year ban on American oil exports.

Oil is extending weekly losses as U.S. inventories and production increased to the highest levels in more than three decades, bolstering speculation that a global surplus that drove prices almost 50 percent lower last year will worsen. The market is oversupplied by 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day, according to an official from Oman, the biggest non-OPEC producer in the Middle East.

“The supply side is known,” Michael McCarthy, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “It’s concerns about the demand outlook and the deterioration of the technical picture. WTI is reconnecting with a lower trading range, suggesting continuing pressure on the oil price.”

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery was at $47.18 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 13 cents, at 1:29 p.m. Singapore time. The contract dropped $1.12 to $47.05 on Thursday, the lowest close since Jan. 29. The volume of all futures traded was about 34 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are down 4.9 percent this week.

Crude Supplies

Brent for April settlement was 16 cents higher at $57.24 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It slid 46 cents to $57.08 on Thursday. Prices have decreased 4.2 percent this week. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $10.05 to WTI, compared with $10.12 on March 6.

U.S. crude stockpiles have risen for nine weeks through March 6 to 448.9 million barrels, the most in Energy Information Administration records dating back to August 1982. The nation pumped 9.37 million a day, the fastest pace in data compiled by the Energy Department’s statistical arm since January 1983.

In Iran, state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. hasn’t yet specified how much additional crude it might offer to customers, said the people who asked not to be identified because the conversations are confidential. The Persian Gulf nation is the fifth-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

U.S. Exports

The Producers for American Crude Oil Exports, a lobbying group known as PACE, met with White House senior energy policy adviser Brian Deese on March 11.

The chief executives, including Ryan Lance of ConocoPhillips, asked the Obama administration to roll back a prohibition on most U.S. oil exports imposed after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, according to two people who asked not to be named because the discussions weren’t public.

WTI will fall next week, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Seventeen of 32 analysts and traders, or 53 percent, forecast futures will decline through March 20 while nine respondents predicted an increase.