Crude oil prices on the New York market fell nearly $1 for both September and October delivery on Aug. 10 as little news came out of a joint technical meeting between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC countries in Abu Dhabi.
The next joint technical committee (JTC) meeting is scheduled for Aug. 21 in Vienna.
Separately, the International Energy Agency revised its historical crude oil demand figures lower on Aug. 11. Oil prices dropped in both New York and London in response.
Earlier in Abu Dhabi this week, the JTC consulted with several producing countries to discuss possible adjustments in production-cut targets extending through first-quarter 2018. Libya and Nigeria were exempted from the original product-cut targets.
Five secondary sources said OPEC production climbed 172,600 b/d in July to a 2017 high of 32.84 million b/d despite the oil cartel’s earlier deal to reduce its production (OGJ Online, Aug. 11, 2017).
The monthly OPEC production increase, which was smaller than the June monthly increase, was driven by higher production in Libya, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia, said OPEC’s Monthly Market Oil Report.
The report comes as Saudi Arabia—OPEC’s biggest exporter—pressures other cartel members for higher compliance with production-cut targets.
Kuwait and Russia co-chaired the extraordinary meeting of the JTC. Saudi Arabia representatives attended the meeting in Abu Dhabi. UAE representatives will hold the OPEC presidency in 2018.
“UAE, Iraq, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia all expressed their full support for the existing monitoring mechanism and their willingness to fully cooperate with the JTC and JMMC in the months ahead,” to reach full compliance with production-cut targets, OPEC said in a statement.
JMMC is the Joint OPEC non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which met in St. Petersburg, Russia, in July to discuss compliance with production-cut targets of 1.8 million b/d total. OPEC accounts for 1.2 million b/d and Russia accounts for 300,000 b/d.
Energy prices
The September light, sweet crude contract on NYMEX fell 97¢ on Aug. 10 to settle at $48.59/bbl. The October contract was down 97¢ to close at $48.75/bbl.
The NYMEX natural gas price for September gained 10¢ to $2.98/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price rose 2¢ to $2.87/MMbtu.
Heating oil for September fell 2¢ to a rounded $1.63/gal. Reformulated gasoline stock for oxygenate blending for September fell 1.7¢ to a rounded $1.60/gal.
The Brent crude contract for October on London’s ICE was down 80¢ to $51.90/bbl. The November contract also was down 87¢ to $51.78/bbl.
The August gas oil contract rose $3 to $486.50/tonne. OPEC’s basket of crudes on Aug. 10 was $50.70/bbl, up 22¢.
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].