Oil & Gas
The top OPEC producer expects to collect 492 billion riyals ($131 billion) from oil sales in 2018, compared with 440 billion riyals this year, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday in a budget statement.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $63.49 a barrel, up 8 cents.
In the United States, energy companies cut rigs drilling for new production for the first time in six weeks, to 747, in the week ended Dec. 15, energy services firm Baker Hughes said on Friday.
South Korea’s oil imports from Iran in the first 11 months of this year jumped 36.5 percent to nearly 17 million tonnes, or 372,890 bpd, compared with 12.45 million tonnes over the same period last year, according to the customs data.
Another cap on prices has been soaring U.S. production, which has risen by 16 percent since mid-2016 to 9.78 million barrels per day, the highest since the early 1970s.
Forties is one of the North Sea grades that determine the value of the Brent futures contract.
The Forties pipeline system will close for several weeks while its operator, INEOS, repairs a crack in a pipe discovered last week.
The meeting was the first held since the Environmental Protection Agency announced in October the removal of tons of toxins from the waste pits.
The number of rigs drilling for new oil output in the United States rose by two in the week to Dec.8, to 751, the highest level since September.
U.S. refinery crude runs have been running at record rates almost continuously since April, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 6.8 million barrels and distillate inventories were up 1.7 million barrels, government data showed.
In a research note published late Monday, Goldman lifted its Brent price forecast for next year to $62 a barrel.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers last week rolled over their agreement to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of 2018, aiming to erode a global glut and drive up prices.
A months-long crackdown on alleged graft in Venezuela’s oil industry has led to the arrest of some 65 former executives, including two prominent officials who used to lead both the oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA.
The oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia, and 10 non-OPEC oil producers led by Russia, agreed to extend their collective crude production cut of 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) beyond March next year to December.
Refinery crude runs rose by 165,000 bpd, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates rose by 1.3 percentage points. U.S. crude imports fell last week by 365,000 bpd.
Prices also briefly came under pressure after a fire broke out at Exxon Mobil Corp’s 362,300 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont, Texas, refinery.
OPEC and its allies cut production by 1.8 million bpd in January and have agreed to hold down output until March. OPEC meets on Thursday to discuss policy and most analysts expect a deal to extend the cuts.
The main talking point ahead of the meeting in Vienna on Thursday is Russia’s view of how long production curbs should remain in place.
Under the deal, Russia agreed to cut output by 300,000 bpd from its level in October 2016.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI futures fell by 1.8 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
The deal to curb production is due to expire in March, but OPEC will meet on Nov. 30 in Vienna to discuss the outlook for the policy.
Venezuela's oil production, which has been falling by about 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) per month since last year, is on track to fall by at least 250,000 bpd in 2017.
Despite rising sharply on Friday, crude oil futures failed to pare losses made earlier in the week amid ongoing investor fears that rising U.S. output would dampen OPEC’s efforts to rid the market of excess supplies.
Oil prices have slipped from the two-year highs hit last week by both crude benchmarks on signs that U.S. supply is rising and could potentially undermine OPEC’s efforts to tighten the market.