Oil: an overview of the market situation

Oil has risen moderately today as supply disruptions from Nigeria and Libya supported prices and data on oil reserves in the U.S. have improved investor sentiment .

Note that the oil company Royal Dutch Shell declared force majeure on oil supplies from Nigeria as one of the oil leak , and production in Libya has fallen by another 80,000 barrels per day to 150,000 after stopping work on one of the largest deposits . Rebels in Libya, control multiple ports with oil export terminals , announced their readiness to start talks with the government if the government refuses to take threats to attack on these ports.

"Demand for oil remains high. Moreover, given the signs that consumption of motor gasoline , perhaps increased recently, as well as reduced production in Libya and the problems in Nigeria , we can assume that all of this is supporting the growth of quotations "- said Global Hunter Securities strategist Richard Hastings .

With respect to data from the Ministry of Energy , they showed :

- Crude oil inventories in the U.S. 6.619 million barrels to 382.471 million barrels

- Load refinery in the U.S. 86.0% against 85.6 % a week earlier

- Distillate stocks in the U.S. 1,555,000 barrels to 112.401 million barrels

- Stocks of gasoline in the U.S. -5,101,000 barrels to 217.198 million barrels

- Oil terminal in Cushing last week -1.325 million barrels to 28.477 million barrels

Recall also that the report presented yesterday its Petroleum Institute API. He testified:

- Capacity utilization in the week 86.8% against 86.9%

- Distillate stocks last week 0.267 million barrels

- Gasoline inventories last week -2.8 million barrels

- Oil reserves for the week 6.3 million barrels

Experts note that the "stabilization" of tensions between Western powers and Russia - world's second largest oil exporter , to keep prices in the range . Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama warned Russia that the United States and its European allies are still evaluating the possible sanctions in the energy sector .

On the dynamics of trade also affected the U.S. data , which showed that orders for durable goods in February increased by 2.2% compared to December adjusted for seasonal variations. This is the strongest growth since November. The January figure was revised down to -1.3 % from -1.0% . Economists had forecast a rise in orders in February by 1.1%.

May futures for U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to $ 99.69 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

May futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose $ 0.10 to $ 107.04 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.