Commodities
Oil prices more than 2% as supply fears persist
Global oil prices rose more than 2% on Friday night as markets’ concerns about supplies kept quotations up after two days of falling prices, trading data showed.
The price of September futures on Brent crude oil rose by 2.55% to $111.81 a barrel, while August futures on WTI crude oil rose by 2.68% to $108.59. Over the previous two trading sessions, oil prices fell by a total of 7.6% and 5.4% respectively.
Oil quotations are still affected by concerns over supplies after the news from Libya. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) declared force majeure at oil export ports of As-Sidr and Ras Lanuf and at El-Fil field due to the political crisis in the republic.
At the same time, traders continue to assess the prospects of a possible economic recession, which could affect demand.
“The market is stuck between the current deteriorating macroeconomic environment and the looming threat of recession on the one hand and the strongest oil market fundamentals in decades on the other,” MarketWatch quotes RBC Capital Markets commodity strategist Michael Tran as saying.
At the same time, traders assess weekly statistics from U.S. oil and gas services company Baker Hughes on the number of active oil drilling rigs in the U.S. During the week to July 1, their number increased by one unit — up to 595 units.
By Scott DiSavino
(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and rigs operating for a third week in a row to the lowest since December 2021, energy services firm Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:) said in its closely followed report on Friday.
The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by four to 576 in the week to Jan. 24.
Baker Hughes said this week’s decline puts the total rig count down 45, or 7% below this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by six to 472 this week, their lowest since December 2021, while gas rigs rose by one to 99.
In the Permian Basin in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, the nation’s biggest oil-producing shale basin, the rig count fell by six in the week to 298, the lowest since February 2022.
That six-rig decline in the Permian was the biggest weekly drop since August 2023.
The oil and gas rig count declined by about 5% in 2024 and 20% in 2023 as lower U.S. oil and gas prices over the past couple of years prompted energy firms to focus more on paying down debt and boosting shareholder returns rather than raising output.
Even though analysts forecast U.S. spot crude prices could decline for a third year in a row in 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected crude output would rise from a record 13.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024 to around 13.6 million bpd in 2025.
On the gas side, the EIA projected a 43% increase in spot gas prices in 2025 would prompt producers to boost drilling activity this year after a 14% price drop in 2024 caused several energy firms to cut output for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand for the fuel in 2020. [NGAS/POLL]
The EIA projected gas output would rise to 104.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025, up from 103.1 bcfd in 2024 and a record 103.6 bcfd in 2023.
By Georgina McCartney
HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil prices settled slightly higher on Friday but posted a weekly decline, ending four straight weeks of gains, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping plans to boost domestic production while demanding that OPEC move to lower crude prices.
futures settled up 21 cents, or 0.27%, to $78.50 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) settled up 4 cents, or 0.05%, to $74.66.
Brent has lost 2.8% this week while WTI was down 4.1%.
Trump on Friday reiterated his call for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut oil prices to hurt oil-rich Russia’s finances and help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
“One way to stop it quickly is for OPEC to stop making so much money and drop the price of oil … that war will stop right away,” Trump said as he landed in North Carolina to view storm damage.
The threat of harsh U.S. sanctions on Russia and Iran, which are key oil producers, could undermine Trump’s goal of lowering energy costs, StoneX analyst Alex Hodes said in a note on Friday.
“Trump knows this and has leaned on OPEC to cover the void that these will create,” Hodes said.
On Thursday, Trump told the World Economic Forum he would demand that OPEC and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, bring down crude prices.
OPEC+, which includes Russia, has yet to react, with delegates from the group pointing to a plan already in place to start raising oil output from April.
“I don’t really expect OPEC will change policy unless there is a change in fundamentals,” UBS commodities analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. “Markets will be relatively muted until we get more clarity on sanctions policy and tariffs.”
TARIFFS
Chevron (NYSE:) said on Friday it had started production at a $48 billion expansion of the giant Tengiz oilfield, which will bring its output to around 1% of global crude supply, and could further pressure OPEC’s efforts in the last few years to limit production.
Trump declared a national energy emergency on Monday, rolling back environmental restrictions on energy infrastructure as part of his plans to maximize domestic oil and gas production.
These rollbacks could support oil demand but have the potential to exacerbate oversupply, said Nikos Tzabouras, senior market specialist at trading platform Tradu.
Trump’s policies so far have largely followed predictions on the supply side, including cutting red tape to promote domestic supply growth, according to StoneX’s Hodes. However “the lower hanging fruit for growth has already been picked.”
The U.S. president vowed on Wednesday to hit the European Union with tariffs and impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. He also said his administration was considering a 10% punitive duty on China.
As attention shifts to a possible February timeline for new tariffs, caution is likely to persist in the market, given potential negative implications for global growth and oil demand prospects, said Yeap Jun Rong, a market strategist at IG. Traders expect oil prices to range between $76.50 and $78 a barrel, he added.
While bullish catalysts such as a significant drawdown in stocks are providing temporary positive swings, an over-supplied global market and projections of ailing Chinese demand continue to weigh on crude futures, said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at brokerage Phillip Nova.
U.S. crude inventories last week hit their lowest level since March 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. [EIA/S]
By Scott DiSavino
(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and rigs operating for a third week in a row to the lowest since December 2021, energy services firm Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:) said in its closely followed report on Friday.
The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by four to 576 in the week to Jan. 24.
Baker Hughes said this week’s decline puts the total rig count down 45, or 7% below this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by six to 472 this week, their lowest since December 2021, while gas rigs rose by one to 99.
In the Permian Basin in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, the nation’s biggest oil-producing shale basin, the rig count fell by six in the week to 298, the lowest since February 2022.
That six-rig decline in the Permian was the biggest weekly drop since August 2023.
The oil and gas rig count declined by about 5% in 2024 and 20% in 2023 as lower U.S. oil and gas prices over the past couple of years prompted energy firms to focus more on paying down debt and boosting shareholder returns rather than raising output.
Even though analysts forecast U.S. spot crude prices could decline for a third year in a row in 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected crude output would rise from a record 13.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024 to around 13.6 million bpd in 2025.
On the gas side, the EIA projected a 43% increase in spot gas prices in 2025 would prompt producers to boost drilling activity this year after a 14% price drop in 2024 caused several energy firms to cut output for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand for the fuel in 2020. [NGAS/POLL]
The EIA projected gas output would rise to 104.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025, up from 103.1 bcfd in 2024 and a record 103.6 bcfd in 2023.
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