Oil prices fall after mixed US petroleum data

Federal data published Wednesday show total U.S. crude oil production increased by 52,000 barrels to 9.5 million barrels per day.

Oil prices looked set to continue a multi-week decline in Asian trade today on concerns over a global oversupply of crude and mixed prospects for energy demand.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September fell 37 cents to $46.75 while Brent crude for September eased 45 cents to $51.76 in afternoon trade.

Brent crude futures were down 30 cents at $49.29 a barrel after dipping to $49.02 on Wednesday, the lowest since January 30.

It would be very hard for oil prices to stabilize in 2016, Jamie Webster, senior director of IHS Energy Downstream Research told Trend.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained its key interest rates on Tuesday, with Governor Raghuram Rajan saying the fall in oil prices has been very beneficial for the country.

Memorial Production Partners LP (NASDAQ:MEMP) closed at $7.51, down -1.83 points or -19.59% from previous close and at a distance of -35.45% from 20-day simple moving average.

The crude glut is largely responsible for the roughly 50 percent decline in oil prices since mid-2014.

Traders await the release of Friday’s weekly rig count from oil services firm Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI) for further indications on the increasing supply/demand gulf in energy markets worldwide.

WTI crude has been declining since reaching a high of US$61.43 a barrel on June 10. This happens after a bigger-than-expected fall in crude inventories failed to soothe worries about a global supply glut.

“After three months of oil prices showing some promise and stability, July turned out to be a disastrous month for oil bulls”, said David Hufton, chief executive for London-based broker PVM, quoted by the FT.

Technical charts showed Brent may retest support at $48.98 a barrel, with a break below that indicating prices could test the next support at $47.71, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said. Analysts expected a drop of only 1.6 million barrels.

Dr Fesharaki said an Iranian promise to lift production by 500,000 barrels a day within one week of sanctions being removed, probably in November or December, was “totally do-able”.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, fell 0.04% to 97.94 in U.S. afternoon trading.