Oil prices decreased on Thursday 3 of May, as a rise in US crude inventories and a record weekly US production was reported, This increase is opposing to the efforts made by OPEC to decrease supplies and tighten the market.
Namely, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were reduced by 0.4%, reaching $67.65 per barrel. Brent crude oil futures also decreased as they went to $73.04 per barrel, a decrease of 0.4%.
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The prices were reduced after a report by EIA, which showed that US crude inventories increase by 6.2 million barrels to 435.96 million barrels, marking a 2018 high, Reuters reported.
Moreover, US oil production achieved another record as it reached 10.62 million barrels per day (bpd). This indicates an increase of over a quarter since mid-2016. As a result, US are now producing more crude oil than Saudi Arabia.
High oil prices caused by big demand and reduction in production by OPEC, are leading US to continue increasing its production, William O’Loughlin, investment analyst at Australia’s Rivkin Securities, was cited as saying by Reuters.