US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell below $45 per barrel for the first time since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to cut output in November. Brent crude slipped below $47 before staging a modest recovery on Friday.<\/p>\n
OPEC efforts to cut production encouraged US shale producers to pump more, which is dragging prices down.<\/p>\n
After a sharp drop, oil prices saw a rebound with Brent trading at $48.61 per barrel and WTI rising to $45.87.<\/p>\n
In November, OPEC signed a deal to curb production aimed at easing global oversupply. Prices were propped up temporarily, but for US shale producers this was an indicator to resume drilling.<\/p>\n
The US oil rig count increased for a 15th straight week at the end of April. Since January 13, the number of rigs has grown by 175, or 33.5 percent more.<\/p>\n
Additionally, last week US President Donald Trump continued his pro-oil policy by signing an executive order aimed at expanding offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, previously prohibited by Barack Obama\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
OPEC, Russia and other producers initially agreed to curb production by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) for six months from January 1 to support the market and push prices to $60.<\/p>\n
While the cartel\u2019s kingpin Saudi Arabia is disappointed prices are below the target, OPEC regards the agreement as positive for the market and wants to extend it.<\/p>\n
“The willingness to extend the current understanding is strong among OPEC and non-OPEC participants,”<\/em> an OPEC delegate told Reuters, declining to be identified by name.<\/p>\n However, he thinks more cuts are unlikely.<\/p>\n “I have doubts that more cuts will be discussed as the current agreement is yielding a positive outcome,”<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said on Thursday, Moscow backs the extension of the accord.<\/p>\n “Now we are holding final negotiations on the matter with our partners and are inclined toward the extension,”<\/em> said Novak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell below $45 per barrel for the first time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n