Crude Prices Jump Nearly 6%, But Outlook Still Bleak

USA crude imports fell 14 percent to 7.12 million barrels a day last week, the biggest decrease since December 2014, according to the EIA report Wednesday.

United States crude settled down $1.24, or 4.5%, at $26.21 a barrel.

On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Brent crude for April delivery wavered between $29.93 and $31.11 a barrel, before closing at $29.98, down 0.86 or 2.83% on the session.

Prices extended gains after data showed an eighth straight weekly drop in the number of U.S. rigs drilling for oil.

USA crude oil prices slid Thursday, hitting 12-year lows as domestic stockpiles continued to grow.

Both benchmarks are still down for the week, with Brent on track for a 7 per cent loss and WTI down around 10 per cent. Producers are ready to work together and suppliers won’t make cuts unless there is complete cooperation, United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said in an Arabic-language interview on Sky News Arabia posted online February 10.

Non-OPEC supplies ticked down by 500,00 bpd from a month ago and now stand near levels seen a year ago, the IEA said.

Venezuela has lobbied Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other exporters to arrange a meeting between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers in an attempt to reach an agreement to balance an oversupplied market.

“While everyone is busy talking about how low oil prices are, we’ve seen very little evidence of production cuts from the USA or elsewhere”, said Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric.

So far this year, the slowdown in China’s economy, low oil prices and their implications for the energy sector and the debt market, and whether central bank stimulus efforts can support economies around the world have haunted stocks.

Meanwhile, earlier Reuters reported citing the sources familiar with the discussions that some OPEC countries are trying to achieve a consensus among the group and key non-members for an oil production “freeze”.

However, some believe that prices would rebound sooner or later if production tightened or demand rose.

Hans van Cleef, the senior energy economist at ABN AMRO, said, “The comments by the UAE oil minister are pushing prices up… but we’re still in a long-term downturn”. It briefly touched a 12-year-low of $26.05 (U.S.) before bouncing slightly after a Wall Street Journal report suggesting OPEC could agree to production cuts. The CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index, which measures expectations of price swings, climbed to the highest level in seven years Thursday.