USA crude’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures flirted in both negative and positive territory in morning trade, slipping 2 cents, or 0.05 percent, to $43.02 a barrel as of 0133 GMT. January Brent crude LCOF6, -1.28% on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 24 cents, or 0.5%, to $45.22 a barrel. Libya’s National Oil Corp. said it’s making progress to resume pumping crude after more than a year from two fields including Sharara, the OPEC member’s biggest.
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Oil prices pushed higher on Tuesday, as Saudi Arabia’s pledge to work towards stabilizing the market continued to lend support, while investors focused on a global supply glut.
Oil prices held above $43 a barrel in Asia Thursday after USA commercial crude supplies rose at a slower pace while jitters over the shooting down by Turkey of a Russian warplane lingered.
There was no settlement Thursday because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and all transactions will be booked Friday.
Profits earned by Chinese industrial companies fell 4.6 percent in October from a year earlier, data from the country’s statistics bureau showed on Friday.
He also said consultations between OPEC and other oil producers were “important”, adding Russian Federation was ready to continue cooperation in the process.
The gain occurred as the number of active oil rigs in the US dropped to 564, the least in five years, according to data compiled by Baker Hughes Inc.
Turkey claimed the jet violated its air space, adding that it issued 10 warnings to Russian Federation in a span of 5 mins before firing the shots, Pentagon officials said.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 1.1 million barrels in the week ended November 20.
Asian stocks were mixed in early trading on Wednesday.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities, including oil, less affordable for holders of currencies such as the euro.
With the global crude supplies still outpacing demand, traders are awaiting next week’s OPEC meeting to see if the oil producers’ cartel will slash high output levels.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ministers are set to meet next in Vienna on December 4 to coordinate the group’s production.
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Oil prices surprised analysts by inching up Tuesday on concerns about continued global tensions. Diesel futures fell 3% to $1.3597 a gallon.
