Oil: an overview of the market situation

Oil prices declined moderately , being near $ 108 per barrel, in anticipation of an expected drop in demand during the season refinery maintenance .

The fall in prices was also due to the Report on the United States, which showed that the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits , a measure of layoffs, increased by 8000 and amounted to a seasonally adjusted 339,000 in the week ended February 8. The result was slightly higher than the 331,000 projected by economists. Meaning last week 331,000 remained without revision. The four-week moving average of applications , which smooths the volatile weekly data , rose to 336,750 . Secondary applications for jobless benefits in the week January 26 - February 1, decreased by 18,000 to 2.953 million

Little support had a message that the International Energy Agency after OPEC raised its forecast for global oil demand. Under the new global consumption in 2014 will be about 92.6 million barrels a knock, which is 1.4 % higher than last year . Forecast annual consumption was increased by 120,000 barrels. IEA noted a significant reduction of oil reserves in storage caused by the increased demand in the developed countries , primarily the United States. At the same time, developing countries demand for oil fell . Another reason that strengthened inventory reduction , the decline in the volume of shipments from Libya by the rebels last year. Despite the fact that the level of production in this country has already recovered , you will need some time to normalize the situation . Tensions in Iraq has also helped to reduce the amount of oil in storage . In December of stocks in developed countries fell by 56.8 million barrels and reached 2.6 billion barrels. The Agency believes that countries belonging to the OPEC will increase production to replenish .

Oil prices may get some support from further supply disruptions from Libya, where protesters shut down gas and oil deposits from Wafa and blocked another major field line from El Shararah . Spokesman for the National Oil Corporation of Libya said that production fell to 460,000 barrels per day.

March futures price for U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) fell to $ 100.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

March futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose 23 cents to $ 108.44 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.