US WTI February crude oil futures electronic trading price closed down $0.23, or 0.43%, at $53.66 per barrel on Monday (December 1). Crude oil prices closed slightly higher during the real-time session, the fourth consecutive day of rise, hitting a new closing high since July 2, 2015; however, at the end of the electronics trading stage, API crude oil inventories unexpectedly increased by 4.2 million barrels, putting pressure on oil prices to decline.
At the same time, the electronic price of ICE Brent February crude oil futures closed down $0.27, or 0.19%, at $56.68 per barrel.
(the above picture shows the intraday time-sharing chart of the US WTI February crude oil futures price in February, the time on the chart is US Eastern Time; Image source: Huitong Finance)
(the above picture shows the daily candlestick chart of the US WTI February crude oil futures price in the past year, the time on the chart is US Eastern Time; Image source: Huitong Finance)
Oil prices have accumulated a 25% increase since mid-November, helped by the expectation of OPEC to reduce supply and the stable US economic data have boosted the stock market.
trading is light, with only 294,000 contracts changing hands in the near-month contracts. The average daily trading volume in the previous 200 days was 525,000, and the market is expected to remain calm this week.
The market has taken a silly attitude towards the production cut agreement reached between OPEC and several non-OPEC oil-producing countries, and the agreement will officially take effect on January 1.
expects OPEC and non-OPEC to reduce production by nearly 1.8 million barrels per day, and OPEC's leader, , Saudi Arabia , has the largest share of production reduction.
Iraq Oil minister said on Wednesday that Iraq will cut production by 200,000 to 210,000 barrels per day from January. Iraq's production has grown rapidly in the past two years. Iran Oil minister said on Tuesday that OPEC is expected to comply with the agreement. OPEC member Venezuela said it will cut production by 95,000 barrels per day in the new year.
Huitong.com analysts said that the remarks of different officials "maintained high expectations for the market, but if the actual output data in January shows that output is only slowly approaching the target level of lowering, there are also some risks of disappointment.
US API report shows that US crude oil inventories increased by 4.2 million barrels in the week ended December 23, an expected decrease of 1.5 million barrels, and the previous value decreased by 4.15 million barrels.
well-known financial blog zero hedging review API crude oil inventories data said that the API crude oil inventories data hit the largest increase in six weeks; before the data was released, oil prices rose for 8 consecutive days, the longest consecutive increase in seven years. Gasoline and refined oil inventories recorded a decline, but Cushing's presence has increased for four weeks in the past five weeks.
