• Oil rises with support from supply disruption in Libya

    11/12/2018

     

    SINGAPORE (Reuters)

     

    On Tuesday, oil prices offset some of its losses the day before while the National Oil Corporation in Libya announced the status of force majeure in exports from the field of oil spark, which was seized by a local armed group at the weekend.

    However, sentiment remains weak on oil prices amid concern over global stock markets and doubts in OPEC supply cuts will be sufficient to curb supply oversupply.

    Brent crude futures rose 33 cents, or 0.6 percent, from another close of $ 60.30 a barrel at 0206 GMT.

    US crude futures also rose 19 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement to $ 51.19 a barrel.

     

    The National Oil Corporation in Libya late on Monday announced the status of force majeure in exports from El Sharara oil field, which is the largest oilfield in the country, after a local armed group took over the field.

    The Organization said in a statement that the closure of the largest oil fields will cause production losses estimated at 315 thousand barrels per day, and an additional loss of 73 thousand barrels per day in the oil field.

     

    The rise in oil prices came after a 3 percent drop in the previous session amid a continuing weakness in global stock markets and fears that the slowdown in oil demand growth would have an impact of cuts announced by OPEC last week and some exporters from outside, including Russia.

    Crude futures have lost nearly a third of their value since early October amid a slump in financial markets and increased oil supply.

     

    Stephen Inis, head of Asia-Pacific trading at Uganda's Futures brokerage, said, "There is still considerable uncertainty about whether cut production is sufficient to bring about a significant decline in global supplies."

    He added, "The general state of aversion to risk in global markets and the strong dollar is contributing to selling pressures."

     

    A group of OPEC-led exporters on Friday announced a 1.2 million bpd reduction in crude supplies as of January based on production levels of October 2018.​

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