Yesterday crude oil jumped on news of the European bail-out package. Further support was provided by Chinese trade data showing that China imported a record 5.15 mln.b/d of crude oil in April – up 31% y//y. But concern about the level of crude oil inventories continued to weigh on the US benchmark.
Today oil fell in Asian trading as a stronger dollar signalled lingering doubts about a resolution to Europe's debt crisis, while Chinese inflation data raised concern about potential monetary tightening measures.
OPEC's Secretary General said on Sunday global oil markets were oversupplied, but it was too early to talk about the producer group taking action to halt the sharp price fall sparked by the euro zone debt crisis. Oil ministers from several OPEC nations played down on Saturday a sharp fall in prices, but Kuwait said another 10 $ drop may force the group into action.
OPEC expects a 1000 bln.$ rescue package to boost oil prices back up above 80$/b, but warns of wild price swings as the global economy continues on its path to recovery.
The Bank of Canada warned investors and governments not to ¨calculate on a continuous rise in oil and other commodity prices, even though they could rise to unprecedented levels.
The volume of oil products held in tankers at sea was estimated to have fallen slightly to 54.81 mln.b versus 55.87 mln.b on April 8, a broker ICAP Shipping said. ICAP data showed the number of tankers holding clean products rose to 68 versus 65 in April.
Royal Dutch Shell has been forced to shut down some oil production in Nigeria to extinguish several fires on a major pipeline in the Niger Delta, a company spokesman said. It was not immediately clear how the fires started on the Trans Niger pipeline in Rivers state.
China's refinery crude throughput increased 17.1% from a year earlier to a record high of 8.37 mln.b/d in April, official data showed on Tuesday.
A bill of more than 10 bln.$ to clean up oil gushing from BP's U.S. Gulf well could be small compared to costs the disaster adds to producing oil offshore in coming years, enough to push world oil prices higher. As regulators, oil companies and insurers plot their response to the U.S. Gulf disaster, few experts expect offshore drilling to be halted or sharply cut, given its importance to global oil supply. Deepwater output accounts for around 9 % of the world's oil, or double its contribution a decade ago, according to industry estimates.
Saudi Arabia is expected to supply fully contracted crude supplies in June as it has been doing since January to most of its customers, after reducing supplies for much of 2009 in accordance with an OPEC pact to curb production.
Saudi Arabia aims to boost recovery rates at key producing oil fields by up to 70% through new technology, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said. The kingdom pumped around 8.25 mln.b in April, according to a Reuters survey.
Ecuador would pay a "fair price" to private oil firms for operations leftist President Rafael Correa says. The smallest member of OPEC, Ecuador has been trying to renegotiate contracts with private oil companies for two years to improve the state's share of profits.
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