Oil price on world markets

Turkey on Tuesday shot down a fighter jet claimed by Russian Federation, signifying the tension in the Middle-East may intensify, Xinhua reported.

Prices had surged Tuesday following the incident which analysts warned could further heighten tensions among key powers involved in the Syrian conflict and affect crude supplies from the oil-producing Middle East.

“Low volume holiday trade, largely off on strong dollar and hard sell-off in Chinese equity markets”, Jim Ritterbusch of Chicago-based oil consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates said in a commentary on oil.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ministers are set to meet next in Vienna on December 4 to coordinate the group’s production.

ENERGY: The price of USA crude oil was down 34 cents to $42.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Benchmark Brent crude futures (LCOc1) settled up 5 cents at $46.17 on Wednesday, after falling more than $1 to a session low of $45.03.

Futures were little changed in NY after climbing 0.4 percent Wednesday.

The latest data from Genscape estimate that Cushing crude oil inventories rose by 0.441 MMbbls (million barrels) for the week ending November 25, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled his country will cooperate with the broader alliance against Islamic State after meeting his French counterpart in Moscow on Thursday.

“Oil market oversupply will continue through next year, due to resilient United States production – even if it is declining – high OPEC output led by Saudi Arabia and Iraq and the gradual return of Iran starting in” 2016, he added. Stocks at Cushing increased by 1.9 million barrels.

“From a fundamental point of view, an increase in OPEC’s production quota is much required; Indonesia’s inclusion into the cartel will add roughly 800,000 barrels a day into the overall production pipeline will give OPEC the ideal excuse to propose a higher quota”, said Gan.

Stocks rose 1 million barrels in the week to November 20, the ninth consecutive week, compared with analyst expectations for a 1.2 million barrel rise, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Three-month zinc was up 1.6 per cent at $US1,604 a tonne, below an earlier two-week high at $US1,639.

Brent North Sea crude for January dipped 27 cents from Thursday’s close to stand at $45.19 a barrel.