US Oil Prices Go Up

 

US oil prices rebound (rebound) on Wednesday (03/04/2015) local time (Thursday morning GMT), despite the country's crude oil inventories for last week rose more than expected. 

 The benchmark US light sweet crude or West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April, rose 1.01 dollars to close at 51.53 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But in London, Brent North Sea crude for April delivery fell 47 cents to 60.55 dollars per barrel. US Department of Energy (DoE) said commercial crude oil inventories increased by 10.3 million barrels in the week ending 27 February. 

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a rise of 3.8 million barrels. US crude oil inventories have set new records for five consecutive weeks. However, inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, which serves as a reference point for WTI delivery, rose 500,000 barrels to 49.2 million barrels, according to estimates. Frost & Sullivan analyst Carl Larry, said noting that financial institutions and hedge funds have entered the market and make a purchase. 

Larry also underlines that the market is in a period of high seasonal stock, because refineries are entering a period of treatment. Global oil market has lost about 50 percent of its value since June last year, weighed down by high supply and a slow expansion in the global economy.

 In Libya, the National Oil Co. on Wednesday declared "force majeure" for 11 oil fields after attacks by Islamic militant group, a legal steps to protect them from liability if it is not able to fulfill the contract for reasons beyond control. Islamic militants seized the fields of Al-Bahi and Al-Mabrouk on Tuesday and was heading for the third, in the Al-Dahra, said a spokesman for the Libyan oil industry security services. 

In the midst of the fighting in the North African country (Libya), one of the members of the OPEC oil producers' cartel, daily crude oil production has been reduced from as high as nearly 1.5 million barrels to 150,000 barrels.