Brent for January settlement fell as much as 62 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $44.04 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
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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.
The Saudi Press Agency released a statement from the Minster for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, mentioning Saudi Arabia’s “continued willingness and prompt, assiduous efforts to cooperate with all oil-producing and -exporting countries, both from within and outside OPEC, in order to maintain market and price stability”.
January futures for North Sea Brent blend decreased by 0.46% to $44.22 per barrel, while January futures for WTI crude oil were down 1.83% to $41.13 per barrel, according to the report.
In nearly all of its investor presentations this year, EOG has said it can turn a profit at prices at or below the prevailing oil price at the time of the presentation.
Slowing USA crude oil production and lower crude oil prices could support crude oil prices. “The main players in the petroleum market must certainly reach an agreement about the levels of production”, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said.
Meanwhile, Michele Della Vigna from Goldman Sachs told the Today programme on BBC’s Radio 4 that oil could fall to as little as $20 per barrel.
“Oil prices and the [U.S. dollar] strength have an inverse relationship and if the [dollar] does strengthen more, oil prices should be taking a hit”, said Daniel Ang, analyst at Phillip Futures.
Moreover, news of an unidentified plane that was shot down in Syria also boosted oil prices further, as markets believe that the plane crash news may refuel geo-political worries surrounding the Middle-East region. “We don’t agree with that position of Saudi Arabia”, the minister said on the sidelines of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit in Tehran. Expectations are that the data will show another increase.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for December – the benchmark gasoline contract-rose 0.18 cent, or 0.1%, to $1.2921 a gallon. Moreover, this can help oil producers match their crude oil output to current market demand and avoid excess supply.
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January contract had dropped 78 cents, or 1,86%, to US$ 41,12 a barrel by 3h40 GMT.
