Oil: a review of the market situation

The cost of WTI crude oil continued to fall today, while reaching the lowest level in six years, due to an increase in US oil inventories. Meanwhile, the price of Brent crude oil have not changed.

Market participants still analyze yesterday's data from the US Energy Department. Recall commercial oil reserves have increased by 8.9 million barrels - up to 406.7 million barrels. The latter value was the highest for the entire period of statistics with the US Department of Energy in August 1982. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories fell 2.6 million barrels to 238.3 million barrels. Distillate stocks fell by 3.9 million barrels - up to 132.7 million barrels. Utilization rate of refining capacity rose by 2.5 percentage points to 88%. Analysts expected the growth rate by 0.1 percentage points.

The course of trade is also affected by expectations the publication of preliminary data on US economic growth in the fourth quarter. Analysts forecast the US economy expanding by 3.3%

It is worth emphasizing, oil prices fell by almost 60% since June, when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries refused to reductions in production, while production rates in the US were the highest in the past more than 30 years, creating an increased level of supply in the the world oil market.

However, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Ben van Bearden believes that oil prices should reach a long-run equilibrium at $ 90 per barrel. However, he said that it is currently impossible to accurately predict when prices return to the level of $ 90. In the medium term, in his opinion, the market should expect high volatility.

Earlier, OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri expressed the opinion that the price of oil reached the bottom and will soon begin to grow. He noted that the price of a barrel could rise to $ 200 in case of reduction of investment in the industry.

March futures price for US light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) dropped to 43.84 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

March futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mix fell $ 0.04 to $ 48.60 a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.