Stable oil prices, supported by signs of an emerging supply deficit By Reuters

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices remained steady on Friday, buoyed by production cuts due to sanctions by OPEC and the United States against Venezuela and Iran, which likely led to a slight global supply deficit in the first quarter of 2019.

But oil prices have been capped by concerns that an economic slowdown will soon begin to dampen fuel demand growth.

Forward prices were $ 67.15 per barrel at 12:26 am GMT, 8 cents lower than their last closing price, while remaining at $ 1 from the peak of $ 68.14 reached in 2019 the day before.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were $ 58.55 a barrel, down 6 cents from their last settlement and close to their peak of 58.74 dollars in 2019 compared to the day before.

Despite the lows recorded on Friday, oil has risen about a quarter since the beginning of the year.

"Crude oil continues to nibble … in response to ongoing production cuts from the OPEC + producer group as well as to the new recession (of production) of a darkened Venezuela. "said Ole Hansen, head of product strategy at the Danish bank Saxo Bank.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and unaffiliated allies such as Russia – known as the OPEC + Alliance – have pledged to retain 1.2 million barrels a day of crude supplies from the beginning of the year, in order to tighten prices

At the same time, US sanctions against Venezuela and Iran have further tightened oil markets.

With the voluntary retention of OPEC and US sanctions preventing Iranian and Venezuelan oil from entering the markets, global data on crude flows in Refinitiv showed a slight supply shortfall in the first quarter.

(GRAPHIC: World Petroleum Supply and Demand – https://tmsnrt.rs/2O4NEW5)

IS THE APPLICATION STILL?

Preventing oil from rising further has raised fears that an economic downturn affecting much of Asia and Europe and showing signs of spillover into North America will not slow down soon. the growth of fuel demand.

But the demand for oil has held up well so far.

The use of crude oil in China, the world's largest importer, in the first two months of 2019, rose 6.1% over the previous year to a record 12.68 million yuan. bpj, according to official data released this week.

"Concerns about the demand for oil are excessive," said Friday in a note Goldman Sachs (NYSE :).

The US bank said the growth in world crude oil demand in January was "close to 2.0 million barrels a day, with visible strength in both emerging markets and developed economies."

Goldman said "the current fundamentals will further tighten the physical markets," pushing Brent futures above $ 70 a barrel "as supply losses continue (and) demand growth exceeds the expectations of low consensus ".