{"id":29179,"date":"2017-11-06T12:03:32","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T07:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=29179"},"modified":"2017-11-06T12:03:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T07:03:32","slug":"oil-hits-highest-levels-since-2015-amid-tightening-markets-saudi-purge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=29179","title":{"rendered":"Oil hits highest levels since 2015 amid tightening markets, Saudi purge"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIYADH Nov 06 (TNS):<\/strong> Oil prices hit their highest levels since July 2015 early on Monday as markets tightened, while Saudi Arabia\u2019s crown prince cemented his power over the weekend through an anti-corruption crackdown that included high profile arrests.<\/p>\n

Brent futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, hit $62.44 per barrel early on Monday, their highest level since July 2015. Brent was at $62.27 per barrel at 0051 GMT, up 20 cents, or 0.3 percent from the last close and 40 percent above June\u2019s 2017 lows.<\/p>\n

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 hit $56.00 per barrel in early trading, also the highest since July 2015, and was at $55.83, up 19 cents, or 0.3 percent from the last settlement. WTI is a third above its 2017 lows.<\/p>\n

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia\u2019s designated future king, has tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors including prominent business billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal and the head of the National Guard, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis consolidates the reforming process underway, part of which is a desire to drive the price of oil higher,\u201d said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader.<\/p>\n

Bin Salman\u2019s reforms include a plan to list parts of giant state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco next year, and higher oil prices are seen as beneficial for the market capitalization of the future listed company.<\/p>\n

In oil fundamentals, traders said that there were ongoing signs of tightening market conditions.<\/p>\n

US energy companies cut eight oil rigs last week, to 729, in the biggest reduction since May 2016.<\/p>\n

The decline in US drilling activity comes as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a non-OPEC group lead by Russia have pledged to hold back about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in oil production to tighten markets.<\/p>\n

The pact to withhold supplies runs to March 2018, but there is growing consensus to extend the deal.<\/p>\n

While supplies are tightening, analysts say demand remains strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cSynchronous global economic growth and new supply disruptions are creating the most constructive oil price environment since … 2014,\u201d Barclays bank said.<\/p>\n

The British bank said it was raising its average Q4 Brent price forecast by $6 per barrel to $60 per barrel.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe surprisingly strong macro backdrop and the accelerated inventory drawdown mean that these slightly higher price levels are likely to be sustained through Q1 of next year.<\/p>\n

Barclays said it raised its full-year 2018 forecast by $3 per barrel to $55 per barrel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIYADH Nov 06 (TNS): Oil prices hit their highest levels since July 2015 early on Monday as markets tightened, while Saudi Arabia\u2019s crown prince cemented his power over the weekend through an anti-corruption crackdown that included high profile arrests. Brent futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, hit $62.44 per barrel early on Monday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[816,733],"class_list":["post-29179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-riyadh","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29181,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29179\/revisions\/29181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}