Oil up again as US supplies dip

new york — Crude rose for a second week as US supplies drain and a key Libya oil field was shut.

News of a production halt at Libya’s 70,000 barrel-a-day El Feel field helped cap a weekly drop of more than three per cent, after a report on Thursday showed storage tanks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub are at their lowest levels since 2014 as exports of US crude surge.

“[The] inventory report was very bullish for crude oil,” John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, said by telephone. The decline of stockpiles “is starting to turn into a potentially critical situation that could be very supportive” for West

The decline of stockpiles ‘is starting to turn into a potentially critical situation that could be very supportive’ for WTI prices John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital

Texas Intermediate crude prices, plus “the trouble in Libya seems to be on the upswing”, he said.

The rapid decline in American stockpiles and growing demand for crude from the country’s booming shale fields are helping reassure the market that production cuts led by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries are working. The global oil market is re-balancing and the decline in inventories is expected to continue this year, Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih told reporters in New Delhi on Friday.

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery rose 78¢ to settle at $63.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest level in more than two weeks. Total volume traded was about 26 per cent below the 100-day average.

Brent for April settlement climbed 92¢ to settle at $67.31 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude was at a $3.76 premium to WTI.

US crude exports surpassed two million barrels a day last week for only the second time on record.