© Reuters. ARCHIVE PHOTO: A drilling rig operates in the Permian Basin oil and natural gas production area in Lea County, New Mexico, USA, February 10, 2019. REUTERS / Nick Oxford / File Photo
By Laura Sanicola
(Reuters) – Oil prices remained largely unchanged after Monday’s trading turmoil, boosted by rising Saudi crude oil prices in July, but amid doubts that a target of higher production for OPEC + oil producers would alleviate the reduced supply.
rose 4 cents to $ 119.76 a barrel at 12:22 pm EDT (1622 GMT) after hitting an intraday high of $ 121.95.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose 8 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $ 118.95 a barrel after hitting a three-month high of $ 120.99. The benchmark dropped $ 1 before the session.
Saudi Arabia raised official July selling price (PSO) of its flagship Arab light crude ship to Asia by $ 2.10 from June to a premium of $ 6.50 over Oman quotes / Dubai, right next to the all-time high recorded in May when prices peaked due to concerns over supply disruptions from Russia.
The price increase followed last week’s decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, jointly known as OPEC +, to increase production in July and August by 648,000 barrels per day, or 50%. more than previously anticipated, despite the limitation of global refining capacity. has kept prices high.
“Crude oil imports at US refineries have been reduced by about 6% compared to 4 years ago at this time, with this reduction associated with the need for less crude oil coverage while contributing to a severe restriction. in the gasoline and diesel markets, “said Jim Ritterbusch. , president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.
However, the increased target spread among all OPEC + members, many of whom have little room to increase production and which includes Russia, which faces Western sanctions.
“With only a handful of … surplus OPEC + participants, we expect the increase in OPEC + production to be about 160,000 barrels per day in July and 170,000 bpd in August,” they said. say JP Morgan analysts in a note.
On Monday, Citibank and Barclays (LON 🙂 raised their price forecasts for 2022 and 2023, saying they expected Russian production and exports to fall by about 1 million to 1.5 million bpd by the end of 2022.
Separately, Italy’s Eni and Spain’s Repsol (OTC 🙂 could begin shipping small volumes of Venezuelan oil to Europe as early as next month, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters.