Oil prices continued to creep up last week closing out at $71.55 in London and $63.89 in New York, making the sixth consecutive week of gains. If you have been watching your gas pumps lately, you have noted that regular is up 30 cents a gallon in the last month to average $2.83 in the US. In California, however, regular is just about $4 a gallon and is going for $4.62 in one county.
Prices have climbed steadily for the last three months closing on Friday above $60 a barrel in New York and $67 in London. The combination of slowing US shale oil drilling and the Venezuela, Iran, and the OPEC+ situations continue to outweigh the bad economic news that may someday lower demand. The situation in Venezuela gets worse every day, and it seems likely that the country will see a significant drop in production and exports during March.
Prices climbed for the first three trading days last week on the perception that oil supplies were tightening due to the OPEC+ cuts, the US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, and a 9.6-million-barrel decline in US crude stocks. Prices in London closed on Wednesday at $68.50 — a four-month high. However, market sentiments changed on Thursday and Friday as fears of an economic slowdown hit the equity and oil markets. Signals from the Federal Reserve that there may not be any more interest rate increases this year contributed to the idea that harder economic times are ahead. A report on Friday showed factory output in the eurozone fell in March at the fastest pace in nearly six years, while US manufacturing activity slipped to its lowest level in almost two years.
The struggle between a weakening global economy and the shrinking availability of oil supplies seems to be tipping in favor of the latter as oil prices slowly make their way higher. The electric power disruption in Venezuela has combined with the US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela and reports that the rapid increase in US shale oil production to add a bullish tone to the oil markets. Last week oil prices climbed $1-2 a barrel to close at $67 in London and $58 in New York. Last week a new EIA forecast cast doubt on the optimistic projections for US shale oil production which was slated to increase from 11.9 million b/d at the end of 2018 to 13.5 million by the end of 2020.
The struggle between declining economic growth and falling oil supplies continued to affect oil prices last week. The failure of a significant portion of Venezuela’s electricity grid has already been a significant blow to the country’s roughly 1 million b/d of oil production, and the situation seems likely to get worse. However, part of this decline could be offset by the return to production of Libya’s 300,000 b/d Sharara oilfield after being offline for three months.
The struggle between lower crude output and the prospects for a global economic setback that could reduce the demand for oil continued last week. Prices rose on bullish news early in the week and then fell to close only slightly higher for the week at $55.80 in New York and $65.07 in London. Most analysts are predicting that oil prices will continue to rise as the case for lower production later this year seems stronger than the case for lower demand.
Brent crude futures briefly touched $67.73 a barrel on Friday, their 2019 high. The London contract then fell 5 cents to settle at $67.12 a barrel while US futures US gained 30 cents to settle at $57.26 per barrel, after hitting $57.81 earlier in the day. Despite forecasts that US shale oil production will continue to increase rapidly next month, supply disruptions in Venezuela and Libya, the 1.8 million-barrel OPEC+ production cut, and hopes that the US-China trade dispute may be settled soon, were enough to push prices higher last week. Prices have now gained about $5 a barrel since mid-February but are still some $20 a barrel below the recent highs set last October.
Prices moved higher last week as the markets perceived that production problems in Venezuela and elsewhere might outweigh any decline in demand that could take place if global economic growth slows. London oil climbed by nearly $5 a barrel last week to close at $66.25. This is still about $20 a barrel lower than the recent peak set last October, but up about $16 a barrel from the early January low.
Oil prices have moved very little in the past month closing on Friday at $52.72 in NY and $62.10 in London or about where they were in the first week of January. Several factors such as the recent price drop, the OPEC+ production cut, the US sanctions on Tehran and Caracas, and the outage of Libya’s largest field should be pushing prices higher. However, concerns about slowing global economic growth, the US/China trade dispute, and the possibility of turmoil resulting from the UK’s exit from the EU suggest that the demand for oil could drop significantly in the coming year.
Oil prices continue to hover in the low $50s in the US and low $60s in London – about where they have been since early January. The main issue affecting prices remains the efficacy of the OPEC+ production cut vs. US shale oil production and the slowing Chinese economy. Last week a political upheaval occurred in Venezuela, raising the possibility that Caracas would no longer be able to export 500,000 b/d to the US or that its production might fall below its current 1 million b/d level. So far, the Venezuelan turmoil has not moved oil prices, but with the world’s major powers lining up for or against the Maduro government, prices seem likely to be affected.
