Having v-shaped recovered yesterday after disappointing Russian comments (on no news whatsoever), crude prices are tumbling once again this morning, WTI back to $43 handle, after Saudi Arabia told OPEC it pumped 10.07 million barrels a day in June, a person with knowledge of the data said, exceeding its production limit for the first time since brokering a deal to curb global crude supply to counter a glut.
As Bloomberg reports, the world’s biggest oil exporter boosted output from 9.88 million barrels a day in May, surpassing the limit of 10.058 million it accepted in an agreement between OPEC and other major suppliers including Russia. Under the deal reached in December, Saudi Arabia agreed to reduce production by 486,000 barrels a day, the most of any country participating in the cuts. The person with knowledge of the June data asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
And the result is yet more downward pressure on crude prices…
Even OPEC sounds like it is losing hope. As Reuters reports, all global oil producers should help balance the market, OPEC’s Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo told reporters on Tuesday when asked what else the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could do to ease a global oil glut.
“It is beyond any group of stakeholders, it has to be a collective responsibility of all producers,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Istanbul.
At this rate, Goldman’s “below-$40” forecast may happen this week…
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