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Oil prices bounce but oversupply, demand worries drag

August Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.67 to $ 57.72 a barrel.

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Crude oil prices dove around 5 percent earlier this week amid concerns Greek debt crises could spill over again into the broader European economy.

The don added that for Nigeria to remain competitive in the global oil trade, it has to seek out new markets for its crude while noting that although the country has about the best crude in the world, it has been unable to negotiate good deals from buyers.

[SINGAPORE] Crude oil prices bounced on Thursday on strong economic data from Japan and Germany, and as Chinese stocks picked up after the government launched new steps to halt a rout in its share markets. An agreement could allow Iran to boost oil exports, piling more downward pressure on prices.

“One of the key backdrops [for the oil market] is what’s now happening in China”. Its previous 52-week high was $32.61 and moved up +11.63% over the same period, trading at a volume of 1.767 million. Auto sales there dipped for the third straight month, falling 2.3 percent in June from a year earlier, prompting a halving of its annual sales growth forecast to 3 percent.

But even with the reversal, oil is now near a three-month low.

“Crude oil stocks have seen counter-seasonal builds the last two weeks, adding a total of 2.77 million barrels to inventories”, as indicated by price reporting agency Platts. Talks on Greece’s financial crisis have been extended to the weekend, while negotiations over Iran’s nuclear power plans extended past Tuesday, the second time in a week that a deadline has been crossed.

“That is bearish for oil markets – particularly amid Greece, China and a still present oversupply of oil”, said Jamie Webster, senior director at the global energy consulting firm IHS.

Crude oil prices plunged yesterday as Greek uncertainty and worries over a slowdown of the Chinese economy weighed on market sentiment”, noted Sucden analyst Myrto Sokou.

The oil price falls came despite an expected draw in United States inventories.

“We have the best crude in the world but we have not been able to negotiate good deals with those who have plants to continue to buy from us”.

According to the report, OPEC’s most stable members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, which have the capacity to increase production and the wealth to withhold it. They were considered to be healthy.

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With that in mind, we should remember several things about oil prices and how they can be viewed in our day-to-day oil and gas industry roles.

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