Oil prices fell more than 1% amid news of rising US inventories,\nwith reports that OPEC may consider ending the cut production agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some OPEC officials are reportedly reconsidering an extension of\nproduction cuts beyond June. So far, the consensus has been that OPEC and its\nexporters will need to keep the cuts in place until the end of this year to\nrebalance the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the speed of rebalancing efforts surprised most analysts and\nperhaps even OPEC. While the group has kept 1.2 million bpd on the market since\nthe beginning of this year, US sanctions have knocked more inventory in\nVenezuela and Iran. In March, Venezuelan oil production fell by 289,000 bpd.\nThe widespread blackout, the economic and political crisis and the harsh US\nsanctions have crushed the Venezuelan oil sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Iran’s production has held up somewhat better\nbut has been suffering significant declines since last year. US waivers to\neight countries that import Iranian crude expire in a few weeks. As of now,\nTrump officials seem divided on whether to take a hard line or not by allowing\nexemptions to expire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now being seen at the softer\nend on the spectrum regarding the\nIran issues, so the fact is that his administration is trying to adjust\nthe White House policy is telling. It is worth mentioning that the State\nDepartment is concerned about the shake-up of oil markets if the US\nadministration takes a very aggressive stance towards Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, OPEC is watching all these events closely. Saudi Oil\nMinister Khalid al-Falih has suggested more than once in recent months that\nOPEC production cuts may be extended. This time OPEC will benefit from the\nability to respond after the US president makes a decision on Iran sanctions\nwaivers. The surprise release last year was one of the main reasons behind the\nprice collapse in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the United States takes a hard line and stops more Iranian\nsupplies, and Venezuelan supply losses continue to increase, OPEC may decide to\nincrease output from current levels. The report comes in the wake of comments\nfrom Russian President Vladimir Putin a few days ago that Russia is concerned\nabout keeping the supply out of the market. Putin said he did not support the\nuncontrolled increase in prices. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said\nthere would be no need to extend the cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, on Wednesday, the Energy Information\nAdministration reported another sudden rise in crude stocks. Given Russia’s\nuncertainties, US stocks, and now the prospect of OPEC thinking of increasing\nproduction, the news has exhausted the recent surge in prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oil prices fell more than 1% amid news of rising US inventories, with reports that OPEC may consider ending the cut production agreement. Some OPEC officials are reportedly reconsidering an extension of production cuts beyond […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,4],"tags":[42,41,44,72,45],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1156,"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions\/1156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyeconomynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}