‘All options open to ensure oil market rebalance’

Oil commercial stocks dip in July: JMMC

DUBAI, Aug 28, (Agencies): A joint OPEC, non-OPEC monitoring ministerial committee said it was confident the oil market was moving in the right direction but that all options, including an extension to the supply-cut pact beyond March, were open to ensure market stability.

“Oil commercial stocks fell in July and the latest five-year average has been reduced from the beginning of this year. Supported by the narrowing Contango, floating storage has also been on a declining trend since June,” the committee, known as JMMC, said in a statement.

“The JMMC will continue to monitor other factors in the oil market and their influence on the ongoing market rebalancing process. All options, including the possible extension ... beyond Q1 of 2018, are left open to ensure that all efforts are made to rebalance the market.”

Meeting

The next JMMC meeting will be held in Vienna on Sept 22, and the committee plans to invite Libya and Nigeria - both exempt from the output reduction pact - to the next meeting of the ministerial or the technical joint panels, it said.

Meanwhile, crude prices were mixed in Asian trade Monday as the closure of refineries in US oil heartland Texas due to monster storm Harvey was offset by sluggish global demand.

Harvey rolled over the US Gulf Coast and slammed into Texas on Friday as a huge Category 4 hurricane, sparking floods and mass evacuations, and prompting many oil refineries and ports to shut down.

US authorities said 22 percent of crude production in the Gulf of Mexico was halted, while global energy information provider S&P Global Platts said roughly 2.2 million barrels per day of refining capacity was also affected.

ExxonMobil said Sunday it had closed its massive Baytown refining complex -- the second-largest in the country. In early afternoon trade in Asia, Brent crude for October was trading at $52.57 a barrel, up 16 cents or 0.31 percent.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in October was at $47.69 a barrel, down 18 cents, or 0.38 percent. The contract had closed nearly one percent higher in New York on Friday as Harvey churned inland.