Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait believe $60 a barrel will lift their economies and allow for more energy-industry investment, the officials said, without jumpstarting too much American shale output, which can be ramped up and down with prices more easily than most oil production.
USA markets remain heavily oversupplied, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday. USA crude inventories were at 532.3 million barrels, which is only 3 million less than the new March record. Crude inventories fell 1.03 million barrels to 532.3 million last week, the agency reported Wednesday.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are cutting oil production by 1.2 million bpd from January 1 for six months, the first reduction in eight years.
The market received a modicum of support from comments by Mohammed Barkindo, secretary-general of OPEC, that the group was still committed to cutting inventories.
Oil was down 3.66% to $50.49 a barrel, while Brent Crude was down 3.55% to $52.94 a barrel.
Gasoline stockpiles, however, edged up by 1.5 million barrels, defying expectations for a decline of 2 million, according to a survey conducted by S&P Global Platts.
Fresno killer showed no remorse in interviews
Court records show Muhammad also was arrested in Washington state in 2004 after acknowledging he shot a gun outside his apartment. Police said Muhammad spent the weekend in a ravine, and after learning he was wanted by police, set out to kill Tuesday .
U.S. crude stocks fell 1 million barrels in the latest week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, a smaller draw than expected.
Gross US crude oil imports in 2016 rose to an average of 7.9 million b/d, 514,000 b/d more than the 2015 average.
"The battle between the "sheiks and the shale oil producers" is far from decided. with all attempts by OPEC to achieve a lasting production deficit on the oil market being torpedoed by non-OPEC producers - first and foremost the US", analysts at Commerzbank wrote. The relationship between crude oil inventories and crude oil prices is inverse, as you can see in the above graph.
In 2016, the United States was the world's largest net exporter of refined products, with a significant portion of crude oil input to US refiners supporting those exports.
In politics, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a review of whether the lifting of sanctions against Iran was in the United (Shenzhen: 000925.SZ - news) States' national security interests.
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