Baku, Azerbaijan, March 9
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The world oil prices have dropped between February 1 and March 2, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
“Brent crude oil front month futures prices decreased by $1.72 per barrel (b), and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices decreased by $1.27/b between February 1 and March 2, settling at $55.08/b and $52.61/b, respectively, on March 2,” said the EIA March Short-term Energy Outlook (STEO).
EIA forecasts Brent crude oil spot prices to average $55/b in 2017 and $57/b for 2018, which is unchanged from the February STEO.
The oil market is showing signs of closer balance between supply and demand in early 2017, according to the report.
“Although estimates of January and February crude oil production will remain unconfirmed for another month or two, voluntary oil supply reductions by members of OPEC and some non-OPEC producers (following agreements in late 2016) appear to be achieving a high degree of compliance,” said the EIA report.
During a meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Nov. 30, 2016, OPEC members decided to implement a new production target of 32.5 million barrels per day. Later, non-OPEC countries agreed to cut the output by 558,000 barrels per day during the meeting held Dec. 10, 2016.
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