Oil: A review of the market situation

The cost of oil futures fell today as investors continue to win back OPEC's decision to maintain production at current levels.

Recall on November 27 in Vienna held a summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The cartel decided to maintain the current oil production of 30 million barrels per day until June 2015, prompting markets to continue to reduce prices.

The course of today's trading was also influenced words of the head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde. She stated that the fall in world oil prices in general have a positive impact on the world economy. According to her, falling oil prices could add 0.8% GDP growth developed economies of the world "as they are all importers of oil, regardless of whether one is talking about the United States, Japan, Europe or China."

Meanwhile, the head of the International Energy Agency, Maria van der Hoeven said the fall in prices a serious challenge especially for companies that extract oil from unconventional sources. For example, the rapid growth of shale oil in the US, probably began to slow: according to Reuters, last month, the number of issued permits in the United States to drill new wells in shale deposits decreased by 15% compared with the previous month, according to the reduction in the number of permits issued on drilling in October.

Prices also affect expectations of fresh release weekly data on oil and petroleum products in the United States to gauge the strength of demand from the world's biggest consumer. It is expected that oil stocks rose 0.9 million barrels for the week ended November 28

Cost of January futures for US light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) dropped to 68.19 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

January futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mix fell $ 0.81, to $ 71.44 a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.