“The Saudi statement doesn’t signal a policy shift, but there are so many short positions out there, which is making the market very sensitive”, Michael Corcelli, chief investment officer of hedge fund Alexander Alternative Capital in Miami, said by phone. The contract rose 48 cents to $44.66 on Friday. The volume of all futures traded was about 83 percent above the 100-day average.
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For Asia, the losers from cheaper prices include the region’s biggest oil producer, China, followed by India, Indonesia and Malaysia, along with Australia’s emerging LNG industry.
OPEC’s members will meet on December 4 in Vienna. We don’t agree with the position that says the market a few way is going to dictate the price of crude oil.
Oil advanced on Saudi Arabia’s repeated pledge to work with OPEC and other producers to stabilise global crude markets.
NEW YORK, Nov 23 Commodities hit 13-year lows on Monday as metals markets crashed but a steady close in oil and higher grains markets helped a key sector benchmark settle off the day’s trough.
January futures fell as much as 1.1 per cent in NY after front-month prices slid 0.9 per cent last week.
USA crude’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) January contract CLc1 had dropped 91 cents, or 2.17 percent, to $40.99 a barrel by 0215 GMT.
“The Cabinet stressed the Kingdom’s role in the stability of the oil market, its constant readiness and continuing pursuit to cooperate with all oil producing and exporting countries”, according to another statement from the Saudi press agency based on the meeting.
Crude futures lost ground in early Asian trading on Monday, with United States oil plunging more than 2% on festering concern about a global supply surplus.
As Doug Terreson, an oil analyst with Evercorer ISI, explained during a November 13 webinar, OPEC sought two things: an increase in demand and less production in the West. The $70 per barrel price didn’t achieve either objective; nor did $60 oil. OPEC has produced above its target of 30 million barrels a day for months.
However, with weaker seasonal demand due to the refinery maintenance season, oil stockpiles in the USA continue to grow and are at levels that haven’t been seen at this time of year for at least 80 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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The oil rig count in the US has declined in 11 weeks of the past three months, while the total number of oil rigs in the USA has fallen by 64 percent since October 2014 when the rig count was at its highest level with 1,609.
