US crude falls towards $44.50, weak dollar supporting
U.S. crude futures fell towards $44.50 a barrel on Thursday after oil stocks rose to their highest level in at least 80 years but a weaker dollar put a floor under prices as the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated a possible interest rate hike as early as June.
U.S. crude for April delivery fell 11 cents to $44.55 by 0031 GMT on Thursday after closing up $1.20, or almost 3 percent, in the previous session.
Brent for May delivery rose 16 cents to $56.07 after surging to close up $2.40, or 4.5 percent, in the previous session. In post-settlement, it extended its gain to above $3, or 6 percent, reaching $56.84.
U.S. crude stocks climbed by 9.6 million barrels last week, almost three times more than analysts' expectations, to a record 458.5 million barrels, data from the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday. Analysts had expected a 3.8 million barrels build.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 2.865 million barrels to 54.4 million, the EIA said. This was record since the EIA began tracking inventories at Cushing.
U.S. shale producers could face another round of spending cuts if oil prices keep falling that could gut the U.S. oilfield services industry and may heighten expectations of a steeper drop in U.S. crude production, analysts said Wednesday.
India is set to import 8 million barrels of Iraqi oil to fill its first strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) after the country's oil ministry on Tuesday told state refiners Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum to each seek tanker tenders, sources said on Wednesday.
Russia may postpone completion of its $55 billion "Power of Siberia" pipeline that would supply 38 billion cubic meters of gas a year to China from two new gas fields because falling oil prices makes the investment less viable.
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Moves by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to persuade non-member countries to cut oil output have made little progress with a planned meeting between the two sides this month apparently shelved, officials said.
China, the world's second larger oil consumer, could trim oil purchases as its petroleum reserves reach capacity and oil refiners cut production, a move that could exacerbate the global glut of oil.
Libyan oil production is steady at around 490,000 barrels a day, even as the country's internationally recognized government could struggle to sell oil from eastern oilfields in a tussle with a rival assembly, sources and officials said Wednesday.
Iraq is starting talks with Citibank and Deutsche Bank (XETRA: DBK-DE) over plans to issue of $5 billion worth of five-year bonds, and will also start paying debts to foreign oil companies, Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Wednesday.
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