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Oil prices hit their all-time high in 2019 on Monday after data showed that refinery processing in China, the world's second largest consumer of oil, hit a record high in 2018, despite the economic slowdown in the world. Last year.
Prices are further supported by supply cuts led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), badysts said.
Brent International crude futures were trading at $ 62.94 a barrel on Monday morning, up 24 cents or 0.4% since their last close. Brent had already pbaded $ 63 for the first time in 2019.
The West Texas Intermediate crude futures were $ 54.05 per barrel, up 25 cents or 0.5%. It was the first time this year that the WTI exceeded $ 54 a barrel.
Traders said the price rise comes after data released Monday by the Chinese Bureau of Statistics show that the flow of crude oil refinery reached a record 603.57 million tons in 2018, or 12.12 million barrels per day, up 6.8% from the previous year.
High oil demand figures were recorded despite the slowdown in China's economic growth in 2018, which reached its lowest level in 28 years, at 6.6% vs. 6.8% in 2017.
Although the slowdown was in line with expectations and was smaller than some badysts had predicted, the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy is casting a shadow over global growth.
"The overall outlook remains gloomy, despite the new prospects of a Fed (which is now stimulating mortgage demand), accelerating China's easing (stabilizing Chinese credit growth) and a more lasting truce between the United States and China, "said US bank JP Morgan.
Despite this, badysts said that cuts in supply, driven by OPEC, would likely support oil prices.
"Brent can stay above $ 60 a barrel thanks to compliance with Opec +, expiry of exemptions granted by Iran and slower US production growth." "said JP Morgan.
He recommended investors to "stay a long time" on crude oil, referring to the purchase of futures contracts in the hope of a price hike.
Researchers at Bernstein Energy have stated that OPEC-led supply cuts will bring the market back to a "supply shortfall" for most of 2019, which should lead to rising prices in the near future. $ 70 a barrel by the end of the year.
In the United States, energy companies have reduced the number of oil rigs by 21 in the week of January 18, bringing the total to 852, the lowest since May 2018, announced Friday the energy services company Baker Hughes in a weekly report.
This is the biggest drop since February 2016 as drillers reacted to the 40% drop in US crude prices at the end of last year.
However, oil production in the United States increased by more than 2 million bpd in 2018, reaching a record 11.9 million bpd.
Given the slowdown in the number of rigs, it is unlikely that the growth rate of last year will recur in 2019, even though most badysts expect that the Annual output far exceeds 12 million bpd, making the United States the world's largest oil producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.
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