Crude oil thursday edged up from
multi-month low, but prices remained under pressure from a supply glut
that has persisted despite the efforts led by the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to balance the market.
Brent crude futures were up 60 cents
thursday at $45.42 per barrel, after falling as low as $44.53. They fell
2.6 per cent in the previous session to $44.35, their lowest since
November 2016.
US crude futures were up 40 cents at
$42.93 a barrel, after also slipping. On Wednesday, they touched $42.05
per barrel, their lowest intraday level since August 2016.
Since peaking at $55 per barrel in late
February, crude has dropped around 20 per cent, erasing gains recorded
at the end of 2016, in the wake of the initial OPEC-led production cut.
OPEC and other producers agreed to
reduce output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from January for six
months, and last month extended the deal for a further nine months until
March 2018.
However, oversupply has persisted,
particularly with output rising in Libya and Nigeria, which were exempt
from the cuts due to unrest that had limited their output.
OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers’
compliance with the deal to cut output reached its highest in May since
they agreed on the curbs last year, reaching 106 per cent last month in
May.
OPEC supplies, however, jumped in May as
output recovered in Libya and Nigeria, both exempt from the production
reduction agreement.
Reuters reported that Libya’s oil
production rose more than 50,000 bpd to 885,000 bpd after the state oil
company settled a dispute with Germany’s Wintershall.
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