Hurricane Barry Stops Much of GOM's Oil Production



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By Saket Sundria and Alex Longley sure 07/15/2019

SINGAPORE and LONDON (Bloomberg) – Oil traded at nearly $ 60 / barrel after a storm closed nearly three-quarters of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, while worries persistent demand continues to weigh on the outlook.

Futures increased by 0.2% in New York. About 73 percent of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut down on Sunday, but some producers are preparing to send their workers back to offshore platforms, as storm Barry falters after touching ground. The shutdown helped counter the impact of the slowdown in the Chinese economy to its lowest level in three decades in the second quarter, in a prolonged trade dispute with the United States.

Crude rose this month due to lower inventory in the US and rising tensions in the Middle East. The United Kingdom and its allies plan to strengthen their military presence in the Persian Gulf to face the threat posed by Iran to shipping. Nevertheless, the long-term prospects of the oil market are raising concerns, with OPEC announcing an overabundance in 2020, while the IEA has reported an unexpected increase in global stocks in the first half of this year. year.

"The basic message is that global oil stocks will be depleted in the second half of this year, but will follow a poor 2020," said Tamas Varga, an badyst at PVM Oil Associates.

West Texas Intermediate for August delivery added between $ 0.12 and $ 60.33 / bar on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of Brent for the September settlement was $ 0.24 higher at $ 66.96 / bbl on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange. The benchmark crude traded at a premium of $ 6.53 per barrel compared to WTI for the same month.

Exxon Mobil and Chevron are among the companies that return workers to their offshore platforms and resume operations in the Gulf of Mexico after Storm Barry. The region accounts for 16% of total US crude oil production and less than 3% of natural gas production, according to the Ministry of Energy.

The International Energy Agency said Friday that cuts in production from OPEC and its allies had not prevented the return to a surplus in the first half of 2019, the company said. The supply exceeds demand at a rate of 900,000 b / d. China's gross domestic product grew 6.2 percent in the second quarter compared with the previous year, which is lower than the 6.4 percent rise recorded in the first quarter.

News from the oil market

Hedge funds have not been as indifferent to crude for six years. Their combined bets on the rise or fall of WTI crude reached their lowest level since March 2013 during the week ended July 9, according to data released Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom called on Iran to act responsibly and to fully respect the commitments made in the framework of a 2015 nuclear agreement, in the context of tensions growing in the Persian Gulf.

According to the ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, there are no more oil tankers in the Persian Gulf flying the British, British or British flags.

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