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Oil hits 4-month high after second straight weekly gain

LONDON, March 16, 2019

Oil gained for a second straight week as Opec assured traders it’s committed to culling supplies ahead of a key meeting with allies in Azerbaijan this weekend, said a report.
 
Futures advanced 4.4 per cent this week in New York and settled Friday just pennies off a four-month high, reported Bloomberg. 
 
Opec's self discipline and a surprise reduction in US crude inventories signaled tightening supplies, but concern that the US-China trade dispute won’t end soon limited gains at week’s end.
 
“The market basically seems to be stalling,” said Gene McGillian, senior analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. 
 
“Concerns that either the delay in the trade negotiations or signs of worries about slowing economic growth that will impact energy demands are limiting the market’s upward movement.”
 
Crude has risen 29 per cent this year as various geopolitical and economic factors diminished concerns about a worldwide glut, it stated. 
 
The International Energy Agency yesterday reported that Opec’s February crude production fell to a four-year low. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia announced it will continue to curb production and American sanctions have isolated two major exporters, Venezuela and Iran, said the Bloomberg report.
 
West Texas Intermediate for April delivery slipped 9 cents to close at $58.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, it added.-TradeArabia News Service



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