Oil Price - July 17

dan_s · Post by **dan_s** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:45 am

Oil futures were on track to snap a two-day slide and recover a fraction of Tuesday’s losses ahead of a weekly report on U.S. inventories.

The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release U.S. crude stockpiles at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, which could show a fifth consecutive weekly fall. Analysts expect the government report to reveal a fall of 4.2 million barrels in crude supplies, on average, for the week ended July 12, according to a survey conducted by S&P Global Platts.

August West Texas Intermediate crude CLQ19, +1.18% gained 70 cents, or 1.2%, to $58.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, recapturing a portion of its 3.3% tumble on Tuesday. International benchmark September Brent BRNU19, +1.38% added 88 cents, or 1.4%, at $65.22 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, after its 3.2% skid in the prior session.

Late Tuesday, the less-closely followed American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude supplies fell by 1.4 million barrels last week, according to sources. The API also showed a stockpile decline of 476,000 barrels for gasoline, but distillate inventories jumped by 6.2 million barrels.

The slide in inventories also comes as the number of active oil rigs in the U.S. fell to a 17-month low of 784 last week, according to data from oil-services company Baker Hughes. < At the current active rig count, oil U.S. production growth has stalled.

On Tuesday, crude was under heavy pressure after reports that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iran is ready to enter negotiations over its missile program, easing concerns about tensions between Washington and Tehran that had put the flow of oil in the Middle East at risk. < The odds of a new agreement between Iran and the U.S. are near zero. Even if Iran does agree to begin talks it will just be an attempt to soften the sanctions. Iran's only hope is that can survive until the Democrats win the White House and give them another clear path to getting a nuke. Israel will eventually act on their own. I feel sorry for the people of Iran.