Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Crude oil futures contracts rose during Asian trade hours. Oil found support with a drop in U.S. drilling activity last week. There is also rising tensions in the Middle East as Turkey opened a new front in Northern Syria against U.S. allied Kurdish forces.
As of 1 m GMT, the international benchmark, WTI Brent crude futures were trading at $68.79. This is up 18 cents, from their last close. Brent, on January 15, hit its highest price since December, 2014, at $70.37.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $63.53 a barrel. This is up 16 cents from their last close. WTI hit its December 2014 peak of $64.89 on January 16.
Traders are saying that reduced U.S. drilling activity is the main driver for prices for the black gold on Monday.
Crude Oil Traders watch U.S. Output
U.S. drillers shut down five oil rigs for the week ending January 19. This brought the total rig count down to 747. The data comes from General Electric’s Baker Hughes energy firm and was released on Friday.
Despite the rig closures, the rig count in 2017 and early this year is still higher than what it was in 2016. This is causing a 16 percent rise in U.S. crude oil production since the middle of 2016. U.S. production is currently at 9.75 million barrels per day.
In Syria, Turkey’s army and rebel allies battled U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in the Afrin province on Sunday, stepping up a two-day-old Turkish campaign against Kurdish fighters that has opened a new front in Syria’s civil war.
Despite tensions and war in the Middle East, an ongoing attempt by the group of major oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-members headed by Russia to prop up prices by cutting production is still in effect.
