Oil peaks in 2019 with OPEC supply cuts and US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela

SINGAPORE, Feb. 18 (Reuters) – Oil prices hit their all-time high in 2019 on Monday, under the effect of OPEC-driven supply cuts and sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran and Venezuela.

WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil futures hit $ 56 a barrel for the first time this year before dropping to $ 55.89 a barrel by 00:51 GMT. It was still 0.5% above their last settlement.

International Brent futures hit $ 66.61 a barrel on Monday, the highest level in 2019, before falling back to $ 66.47 a barrel, up 0.3% from their latest price. .

For both landmarks, these are their highest levels since November 2018.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as well as some unaffiliated producers such as Russia, agreed at the end of last year to cut output by 1.2 million barrels a day to prevent a significant swelling of the offer.

US sanctions against oil exporters and OPEC members, Iran and Venezuela, have also pushed up crude prices.

The decline in US crude oil production at least partially offset these supply declines. more than 2 million bpd in 2018, to a record 11.9 million bpd.

And there are signs that US production will continue to increase.

US energy companies have increased three times the number of oil rigs in search of new production, reaching a total of 857, announced energy services firm Baker Hughes in a weekly report last Friday. RIG-OL-USA-

This means that the number of US rigs is higher than it was a year ago when fewer than 800 aircraft were in operation.

"The US oil shale industry continues to show signs of resilience and has increased drilling activity for the third time in four weeks last week," said ANZ Bank. (Report by Henning Gloystein, edited by Joseph Radford)