Crude Oil Prices Fell despite Russia’s Bullish Comments

“The build in USA crude stockpiles applies more pressure on the group to finalize an agreement”. 30 meeting. Ongoing talks between members and nonmembers are expected to take place in the lead up, as they look to curb production to stabilize prices. The policy worked as USA shale production stalled as oil prices dropped below cost for the producers. OPEC market share increased.

Prices rallied on Tuesday amid reports that several OPEC members were engaged in a last-minute push to overcome divisions between the cartel’s biggest producers.

“I’m still optimistic that the consensus reached in Algeria for capping production will translate, God willing, into caps on states’ levels and fair and balanced cuts among countries”, Al-Falih said.

With Trump having won the presidential election, unexpectedly, it seems that the Saudis are now anxious that what they had probably dismissed as empty threats could eventually materialize as US policy.

The planned listing of state-owned oil giant Saudi Arabia will include information on the extent of the kingdom’s oil reserves, according to reports.

The Saudis also warned President-elect Trump that if he would deliver on his election promise to make America energy-independent and stop imports, he would hurt the US economy.

Crude inventories in the United States rose by 5.3 million barrels in the week to November 11, compared with expectations for an increase of 1.5 million barrels. However, we are not convinced that OPEC can deliver the 32.5 – 33.0 mbd of production that it announced in Algiers.

In the short-term, OPEC still has the price on its side in terms of this battle.

The downturn in oil prices and lost oil revenue is also forcing Riyadh to put in place politically unpopular austerity measures, as well as raising $17.5 billion in worldwide bond sales last month, with little end in sight until OPEC and major non-OPEC oil producers can agree on a substantive and lasting oil production cut. “A number of Fed speakers have indicated that and they want the market to be prepared for when they do”, said Erik Wytenus, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

In the past, OPEC would help ease such a supply glut by pumping less. The rhetoric from OPEC members has been swinging for weeks and that’s kept the oil price moving in a range between about $42 and $52 a barrel.

Reaching their highs in October, crude prices have since been retreated over doubts regarding the OPEC’s ability to implement a deal in the upcoming meeting in Algeria. But Iraq, like Iran, is claiming exemption on the grounds that it fights ISIS, and like Iran, it disagrees with OPEC data being used as reference to start freezing/cutting.