Oil slips below $30 a barrel on oversupply gloom
The world’s fifth-largest crude importer brought 207,629 tonnes of Iranian crude in December, or 49,094 barrels per day (bpd), compared with 548,598 tonnes a year ago, preliminary data from its customs office showed on Friday. US equities rose Thursday after the biggest selloff in three months.
Brent crude fell to another 12-year low on Thursday as the prospect of more oil supplies from Iran loomed, amid gloom over a world already awash with supply and concerns about global economic growth hitting equity markets.
USA benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February was up 33 cents at $30.81 at around 0810 GMT. Prices dropped below $30 Wednesday for the first time since April 2004.
An industry source with knowledge of Iran’s tanker loading schedule told Reuters that Iran’s crude oil exports are set to hit a nine-month high in January with the country being on track to ship 1.10 million barrels a day of crude oil excluding condensate this month.
The report painted “a very bearish picture” of the market, said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division of Mizuho Securities USA. Now married with five children, Jacob works from his home in the Middle East. Though lower crude oil prices pulled back production levels, production levels slightly rose.
Investment sentiment has weakened as global sanctions against Tehran’s nuclear program could be lifted as soon as this weekend, which is likely to lead to a gush of Iranian oil exports. Total volume traded was about 78% above the 100-day average. Analysts at the bank said they now assume that Iran will produce nearly 700,000 barrels a day more in the fourth quarter of 2016 than over the same period in 2015.
Brent for March settlement dropped $1.08, or 3.5%, to $29.95/bbl on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Opec’s Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy, Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export, Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine, Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela). Iran is expected to increase its production once global sanctions targeting its oil sector are suspended. On Tuesday, it fell 97 cents to close at $30.44 a barrel, after touching a low of $29.93, which was last seen in December 2003.