OIL UPDATE Oil edges up on ongoing North Sea pipeline outage

SINGAPORE: Oil markets edged up on Tuesday as the Forties pipeline outage in the North Sea and voluntary production restraint led by Opec supported prices, although soaring output in the United States put a cap on gains.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $57.35 a barrel at 0757 GMT, up 19 cents, or 0.3 per cent, from their last settlement.

International Brent crude futures were at $63.56 a barrel, up 15 cents, or 0.2 per cent.

There has been little price movement in recent trading, with Brent moving within a $63.00 to $63.91 per barrel range since last Friday.

Some upward pressure was taken off after an oil worker strike was called off in Nigeria, traders said.

Despite this, crude has been generally supported by the ongoing Forties pipeline system outage in the North Sea, which provides crude underpinning Brent futures.

“The Forties pipeline closure will continue to put a floor under Brent crude,” said Jeffrey Halley of futures brokerage Oanda.

Further price support has been coming from voluntary supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and a group of non-Opec producers including Russia.

The cuts were introduced in January and are currently set cover all of next year, but Russia’s Rosneft said on Monday they could be extended beyond 2018.

As a result of the cuts, oil inventories are falling globally. — Reuters