Oil: a review of the market situation

Oil prices have fallen dramatically today (WTI fell by about 4 percent, and Brent - 3 percent) were under pressure to strengthen the US dollar and concerns about global oversupply.

Today, the International Energy Agency (MEA) reported that the recovery in oil prices remains uncertain, as production in the United States began to grow again, as well as stocks in storage tanks. This contradicts the view that the decline in oil prices boom constrains production in US shale deposits. The monthly report MEA said that "despite the apparent stability, rebalancing the market, which began with the fall in prices will continue, and this process is going to be quite difficult." The report MEA, published last month, it was noted that the recovery in oil prices is inevitable, as is expected to complete production boom in the United States.

"In the second half of this year, the market will be more balanced, but excess oil still remain in the first half. We still expect that oil prices will fall in the next few weeks due to growth stocks," - said Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht.

The course of trade also affected the US data. One report showed that producer price index fell to a seasonally adjusted 0.5% last month from January. Excluding volatile food prices and energy index fell 0.5%. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.2%, while the so-called core prices fell by 0.1%. Meanwhile, preliminary findings presented Thomson-Reuters and the Institute of Michigan, showed that in March US consumers feel more pessimistic about the economy than last month. According to published data, in March, preliminary index of consumer sentiment fell to 91.2 points compared with the final reading for February at around 95.4 points. It is worth noting that, according to the average expert estimates, the index was slightly increase to 95.6 points.

Recall the price of oil falls in the summer of 2014. Experts point out that this is due to an excess of fuel in the oil market. The solution is not to reduce the OPEC quota on oil production increased price collapse. Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, explaining the decision, said that the oil market may well resolve itself.

April futures price for US light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) dropped to 45.07 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

April futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mix fell $ 1.71 to 55.53 dollars a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.