By Srinivas Chowdary Sunkara // petrobazaar // 18th May, 2018.
Oil prices remain steady
U.S reimposing sanctions on Iran, OPEC compliance rate at 172 Pct, Signs of global inventories reaching long term averages, altogether pushed Brent to touch $80 mark yesterday for the first time after Nov, 2014. Brent closed with 0.19% gains while U.S crude was steady from its previous close.
Crude futures are in backwardation, a situation where the spot market prices are higher than the future prices. IEA agreed on the downside of oil demand in 2018 due to higher oil prices while arguing that higher oil prices are largely supported by strong global economic growth. Rig count data is awaited.
Crude oil price update
On Thursday, U.S crude oil futures, WTI for June delivery closed at $71.49 a barrel on NYMEX while Brent futures to be delivered in July crept by 15 cents to close at $79.43 per barrel after breaking through $80 mark on London based ICE futures Europe exchange. Brent futures advance by 18.19% since the beginning of the month. WTI is discounted to Brent with $7.94 a barrel yesterday.
Comment
Asian markets are opened up and trading with gains at the time of reporting. Dollar is trading strong on rise in bond yields and Dollar index is trading at five months high. Metals space is controlled by strong dollar and I see that is the only concern along with the surge in U.S production to cap oil prices today.
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