Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

World oil prices are growing, despite the growth of drilling activity in the U.S., on expectations of irregularities in the schedule of supplies of this raw material from Libya and Canada.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 0.37 percent, to $74.07 a barrel, Brent crude futures were changing hands at $77.44 per barrel, up 0.43 percent, according to Interfax.

The National Libyan Company NOC declared force majeure due to the blockage of the shipment of raw materials from Zueitina and Hariga ports. NOC also warned that oil production in Libya could collapse by 850,000 barrels per day if the blockade of the eastern ports continues.

It also became known earlier that the Canadian company Syncrude, which produced (by cleaning from soil, sand and water) up to 360,000 barrels of oil per day, due to the accident will be closed for repairs at least until the end of July.

At the same time, insignificant pressure on quotations is provided by the data of the American oil and gas service company Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE), released on July 6. For the week ended on July 6, the total number of oil drilling rigs in the U.S. increased by 5, or by 0.6 percent - to 863 units.

Earlier, OPEC and a group of non-OPEC countries agreed that they would return to 100 percent compliance with previously agreed oil output cuts, after months of underproduction by OPEC countries.

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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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

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