Algerian energy minister sees consensus on need to steady oil price – APS

The Iranian production figure is due to be published on Monday in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ next monthly report.

Oil prices edged lower on Friday but were still set for their first weekly gain in three weeks after Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia agreed to work together to help rebalance the markets and after a surprisingly large drawdown in U.S. crude stocks.

The oil options market indicates investors could well be holding out for a deal further down the line and are displaying a lot more optimism, as demand and supply come closer to falling into balance.

For one, it said that supply could increase as producers in the US, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria and Libya all have room and desire to raise output.

Singapore, Sep 9 (AFP) Oil prices retreated today, taking a chunk out of the previous day’s rally as investors digested data suggesting last week’s plunge in U.S. stockpiles was likely a one-off.

At about 0250 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 40 cents at United States dollars 47.22 and Brent fell 44 cents to USD 49.55.

Brent crude was down $1.35 at $48.64 a barrel by 11:52 a.m. ET (1552 GMT) after rising above $50 for the first time in two weeks on Thursday.

The market has been fixated in recent weeks by an upcoming meeting of OPEC and non-cartel member Russian Federation to discuss ways of tackling a global supply glut that has hampered prices for more than two years.

While officials from Russian Federation and OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia have sought to sooth concerns ahead of the gathering, experts are sceptical whether an agreement can be reached.

Earlier this year Iran’s determination to build production after suffering from lengthy nuclear-linked sanctions on its exports has however made agreeing OPEC-wide limits hard.

“Over the past week they have talked about stabilizing the market”.

“As long as the market remains oversupplied, we would expect oil to remain in a similar US$35-55 trading range as it has most of this year”, it said.

Schieldrop said the market was in fact moving away from a supply glut situation, with inventories expected to fall next year and beyond. Officials in Tehran repeatedly announced that Iran would join the plan after its output reaches 4 million barrels per day.