Cleaves from OPEC and global economy in the spotlight

Oil prices hit the heights of 2019 on Thursday, supported by OPEC supply cuts and US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, but were prevented from rising due to the slowdown in oil prices. growth of the world economy.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract was $ 57.33 per barrel at 0256 GMT, 17 cents, 0.3% higher than their latest settlement, but below $ 57.55 reached in 2019, reached the day before.

The futures on Brent International were at $ 67.14 per barrel, 6 cents higher than their last closing price and close to their 2019 peak of $ 67.38 a barrel the day before.

Analysts said a global economic slowdown was preventing prices from climbing beyond the peaks reached in 2019 this week.

"The slowdown in economic growth will inevitably lead to lower fuel consumption, which will erode bullish gains on oil prices," said Benjamin Lu of Phillip Futures broker in Singapore.

Despite slowing economic growth at the end of 2018, oil prices were pushed up this year by supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

OPEC, along with some unaffiliated producers such as Russia, agreed late last year to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to prevent a significant increase in supply. .

US sanctions against oil exporters, Iran and Venezuela, also weighed on prices.

"Although resources are not lacking, there is a growing lack of access," Barclays UK bank said on Wednesday about the sanctions.

The main factor preventing oil prices from rising further is the surge in US production, which rose by more than 2 million bpd last year, to a record 11.9 million bpd.

The swelling of production has led to an increase in US oil stocks.

Crude oil inventories in the United States rose 1.3 million barrels during the week to $ 448.5 million on February 15, according to a weekly report released by the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday.

Official data on oil stocks and production is expected to be released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday after 18:00 GMT.