Brent falls after hitting $70 for first time in 3 years
SINGAPORE, January 12, 2018
Brent crude oil prices on Friday fell from the high of $70 per barrel reached on Thursday for the first time since December 2014.
Brent crude futures were at $69.11 a barrel, down 15 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.41 a barrel at 0650 GMT - 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, below their last settlement. WTI the day before hit its strongest since late 2014 at $64.77 a barrel, a Reuters report said.
Although analysts and traders have been warning of the risks of a downward price correction since the start of the year, they point out that overall market conditions remain strong, largely due to ongoing production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and Russia.
Brent crude prices have climbed after members of Opec, the cartel of 14 oil-producing nations that accounts for 40 per cent of the world's output, said it would continue to limit supplies.
Suhail al-Mazrouei, the UAE oil minister and Opec president, said it was committed to limiting output until the end of the year.
Last year, Opec and other nations including Russia said they would extend a deal to cut production to help support oil prices that had fallen below $50 a barrel when the agreement was struck in 2016.
Thursday's rise was also bolstered by a surprise fall in US oil stockpiles. The US Energy Information Administration on said crude inventories fell by almost five million barrels to 419.5 million barrels in the week to 5 January. US production also fell by 290,000 barrels per day to 9.5 million.
