Oil Bounces on Chance of OPEC Action
September 26 2016 - 11:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Timothy Puko, Sarah McFarlane and Jenny W. Hsu
Oil prices are rising on renewed hope that major exporters might
make progress on a deal to limit production and help whittle down
the glut that has dragged down the market for more than two
years.
The United Arab Emirates' oil minister has posted support for a
deal on social media and told reporters his country would support
limits on production. That has some traders thinking a deal is
slightly more likely than previously expected, analysts and brokers
said.
"Odds of a symbolic catalyst emerging from (the) OPEC meeting
have improved, from negligible to possible," Guy Baber, analyst at
Piper Jaffray Cos.' Simmons & Co. International said in a note
to clients Monday. "However...actually accelerating the physical
oil market rebalancing remains unlikely."
U.S. crude for November delivery recently gained $1.00, or 2.3%,
to $45.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the
global benchmark, gained $1.05, or 2.3%, to $46.94 a barrel on ICE
Futures Europe.
Brokers and analysts are expecting a volatile week for oil as
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries gets ready to
meet informally in Algiers on the sidelines of an energy summit.
The market has already been prone to big swings ahead of the
meeting, most recently sinking 4% on Friday after Saudi Arabia said
it didn't expect OPEC and other prominent non-cartel producers,
such as Russia, to clinch a deal on Wednesday.
However, analysts still believed that OPEC is under increasing
pressure to take action to support prices.
"Whichever way you slice it, OPEC has to cut production or else
the market will not draw down the overhang accumulated over 2014
and 2015 even next year," said consultancy Energy Aspects.
Since OPEC announced the meeting back in August, , U.S. oil
prices have seesawed between $43 and $49, largely driven by
comments by different oil ministers and leaders.
For more than two years, global oil markets have been
beleaguered by oversupply that has kept prices below $100. As major
producers continue to prioritize market share over prices, many
analysts don't expect to see a deal this week. OPEC has already
failed at several attempts to impose some sort of production cap
this past year.
"Once bitten, twice shy. We have been burned before and we are
not seeing any solid evidence that this time they will agree to a
deal," said Ben Le Brun, a market analyst at the Australia-based
OptionsXpress. "We are all approaching this meeting with
caution."
OPEC's own monthly report in August noted non-OPEC supply will
likely gain by 350,000 barrel a day in 2017, an upward revision
from the previous estimate due to the stronger-than-expected
resilience from the U.S. shale producers. According to industry
group Baker Hughes, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S.
rose by two to 418 in the week ended Sept. 16.
The oil-rig count has generally been rising since the beginning
of the summer, as many oil producers believe drilling in some parts
of the U.S. can be profitable even with oil prices in the range of
$40 to $50 a barrel over the past six months.
Another risk is the recent resumption of oil production and
exports in Nigeria and Libya, which should lead supplies higher,
said Barnabas Gan, an economist at OCBC.
"Even if a production freeze agreement were signed, this would
change very little from a fundamental perspective, given that most
OPEC members are already pumping close to their peak capacity,"
said BMI Research.
In refined product markets, gasoline futures were up 1.7% at
$1.40 a gallon, and diesel futures were up 2.3% at $1.4395 a
gallon.
--Benoit Faucon and Summer Said contributed to this article.
Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com, Sarah McFarlane at
sarah.mcfarlane@wsj.com and Jenny W. Hsu at jenny.hsu@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 26, 2016 10:47 ET (14:47 GMT)
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