What's Moving the Oil Markets?

What's Moving the Oil Markets?

•ICE Brent futures traded lower on position covering Tuesday after rallying Monday on a Nigerian production shut-in, talk that OPEC might cut output further and a product driven rally, brokers said. "We're seeing a little covering today after the spook the market got on Friday and Monday due to news from Nigeria," a broker said.

•On Monday, armed protesters forced Agip, a subsidiary of Italy's Eni, to close down its 50,000 b/d Tebidaba crude flow station in Nigeria's southern Bayelsa state. Production had to be shut in to safeguard company staff, a spokesman said. The flow station feeds the 200,000 b/d Brass crude export terminal. Around 500,000 b/d of Nigerian crude remains shut in the Western Delta, mainly as a result of attacks on infrastructure.

•OPEC President Edmund Daukoru and Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali Naimi both hinted this week at further output cuts at the cartel's December 14 meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. Daukoru said on Tuesday that oil markets were "clearly oversupplied and current prices were still low." He hinted at further output cuts in December but declined to say by how much production will be lowered.

Updated: 11/07/06

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