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Crude prices slightly decrease

14 February 2018 18:00 (UTC+04:00)
Crude prices slightly decrease

By Sara Israfilbayova

Oil prices slightly fell on February 14 against the backdrop of forecasts that data on U.S. stocks will show a significant increase in oil and petroleum products.

Brent crude futures fell 26 cents to $62.46 a barrel. The price has lost 11 percent since hitting a high above $71 in January. It has now wiped out all the 2018 gains.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 40 cents to $58.79 a barrel, according to Reuters.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) data shows that energy resources in the U.S. for the week ended on February 9, increased by 3.95 million barrels. At the same time, analysts predicted an increase in inventories only by 2.8 million barrels - to 423.1 million barrels.

Gasoline reserves during the same period increased by 4.6 million barrels, distillates - by 1.1 million barrels. Oil reserves at the country’s largest terminal in Cushing fell by 2.3 million barrels.

Now investors are waiting for data on the reserves of “black gold” in the country from the U.S. Energy Department.

Moreover, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released the February report on the implementation of the Vienna Agreement on the reduction of oil production. So, in January 2018, OPEC kept production at the level of December - 32.16 million barrels per day (fulfillment of the agreement by 137 percent). Countries outside the OPEC last month fulfilled their obligations under the agreement by 85 percent (88 percent in December 2017), reducing production by October 2016 by 470,000 barrels per day.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached an agreement in December 2016 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1.

Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017.

OPEC and its partners decided to extend its production cuts till the end of 2018 in Vienna on November 30, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry.

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