[banner-group name='banneroil'] Oil prices closed last week's trading down, due to the increasing fears of the oil markets about the continued rise in US oil production, this comes despite the countries participating in the OPEC agreement to reduce their production levels according to the market share assigned to them.
During today’s trading session on the New York Stock Exchange, crude oil prices “for March delivery” decreased by 61 cents, or 1.1%, to reach the price of a barrel at 53.177 at the end of the trading session, and the contracts recorded their highest levels in the session at $54.08, the highest since January 6 /January.
Brent contracts for “March delivery” also fell, losing about 72 cents, or 1.3%, to reach the price of a barrel at 55,455 dollars at the end of the trading session, and it recorded its highest level in the session at 56.55 dollars, which is the highest in three weeks.
Throughout last week’s trading, oil prices on the New York Stock Exchange recorded a loss of 5 cents, or about 0.1%, while on the London Stock Exchange, Brent crude futures recorded a gain of 7 cents, or about 0.1%.
Last Friday, Baker Hughes Oil Services Company announced its report on US drilling rigs for the past week. The report showed an increase in the number of rigs by 15 rigs for the twelfth consecutive week, bringing the total rigs to 566 rigs, the highest since November 2015.
These data negatively affected oil prices, as markets feared an increase in shale oil production, which would lead to the continuation of the global oversupply crisis.
Over the course of this month's trading, oil futures contracts traded around $50 a barrel, in light of increasing expectations that shale oil production will rise to its highest level during the month of February.
It is worth noting that the oil-producing countries within OPEC and independent producers committed to reducing production levels in accordance with the agreement concluded by OPEC last November, as it decided to reduce production levels by about 1.8 million barrels per day and this will reduce the volume of global supply by about 2%.
On the other hand, gasoline contracts for “February delivery” fell 1.5 dollars, or 1%, to reach the price of a gallon at 1.527 dollars, and over the course of the week’s trading, gasoline contracts lost 2.5%.
Heating oil fell by $2.2, or 1.4%, to reach the price of a gallon at $1.618, and over the course of the week, heating oil lost about 1.77%.
As for the natural gas contracts “for March delivery”, it recorded losses of $3.9, or 1.2%, to reach the level of $3.358 per million thermal units, while it achieved gains over the course of this week by about 0.33%.
It is expected that a number of important reports on US inventories and refined products will be released on Tuesday and Wednesday
The following is a monitoring of the most important events that will affect oil prices, which will affect price movements:
Tuesday January 31st
The American Petroleum Institute is to release its unofficial report on US inventories for the past week.
Wednesday 1 February
The US Energy Administration will announce its official report on US oil and gasoline inventories for the past week.
Thursday 2 February
The US Energy Information Administration will continue to report on natural gas.
Friday 3 February
Baker Hughes Oil Services will announce its weekly data on the number of drilling and exploration rigs in the United States.
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