Saudi Oil Minister Rules Out Production Cut
$OIL, $USO
A meeting of Crude Oil producers is planned for Sunday in Doha, Iran will not attend.
Crude Oil futures traded lower Wednesday on concerns that a producer meeting, planned for Sunday in Doha to discuss freezing output, will do little to trim world wide supply gult.
Brent Crude was down 0.34 at 44.35 bbl after hitting a 4-month high in Tuesday’s session.
WTI Crude Oil declined by 0.49 to 41.68 bbl
Comments by Saudi Oil minister Ali al-Naimi in the al-Hayat newspaper in which he confirmed his country’s position that an outright production cut was out of the question weighed on prices, traders said.
“Forget about this topic,” said al-Naimi said, when asked about any possible reduction in his country’s crude output.
Iran’s Oil minister Bijan Zanganeh does not plan to attend the Doha meeting. Iran said it does not plan to participate in any freeze agreement as it seeks to boost its production in the post-sanctions era.
US Crude stocks rose by 6.2-M bbl to 536.3-M last week, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed late Tuesday, an increase more than 3X higher than analyst expectations.
Official inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) was due late Wednesday.
Some signs of improving Crude demand have appeared as China’s imports, buoyed by strong demand from independent refiners and better refining margins, rose 13.4% in Q-1 from a year ago, customs data showed Wednesday.
Stay tuned…
Paul Ebeling
HeffX-LTN
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