Oil exceeds $ 67 as OPEC reduces measures to address economic worries

By Alex Lawler

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil still exceeded $ 67 a barrel on Tuesday, as cuts in OPEC supply and expectations of lower inventories in the United States outweighed oil prices. concerns about weaker demand due to an economic downturn.

The world's benchmark Brent price rose by about 25% in 2019, as a result of restrictions imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, as well as unintentional losses from US sanctions against the United States. Iran and Venezuela.

Brent was up 50 cents to 67.71 dollars a barrel at 1003 GMT, not far from its 2019 high of $ 68.69 reached on March 21st. US crude added 72 cents to 59.54 dollars.

"As long as OPEC production remains depressed and global oil demand and oil demand growth remain at the current level, fund managers will likely continue to invest in oil, thereby supporting the price." said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

The expectation of further inventory declines in the United States also supported prices, suggesting that OPEC restrictions have prevented an accumulation of excess inventories.

The first supply report this week, from the American Petroleum Institute, is expected at 20:30 GMT. US crude inventories are expected to have declined by 2.4 million barrels, a third consecutive weekly decline.

A further power outage in Venezuela, which hit the OPEC country this month, has also contributed to price support, causing concern over the country's oil exports.

Demand-driven concern has limited oil recovery, with manufacturing data from Asia, Europe and the United States reporting an economic slowdown, even though investors are increasing bullish bets.

"So far, demand concerns have not proven to be too restrictive," JBC Energy badysts wrote.

Investors' concern for the global economy intensified on Friday after disappointing data from German and US factories led to a reversal of the US Treasury yield curve, which some view as a advanced indicator of recession.

"The risk of a recession has increased the most since 2008," said Ole Hansen, head of product strategy at Saxo Bank.

(Additional report by Henning Gloystein in Singapore, edited by Dale Hudson)