Energy Prospectus

From Bloomberg

Oil traders are emptying one of the world’s largest crude storage facilities, located near the southernmost tip of Africa, as the physical market tightens amid booming demand and OPEC production cuts.

Total SA, Vitol Group and Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. are selling crude they hoarded in Saldanha Bay, South Africa, during the 2015-2016 glut when the market effectively paid traders to store oil, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private operations.

Crude demand is now seasonally outstripping supply, tightening the physical market for some crude varieties to levels not seen in the last two years and encouraging traders to sell their stored oil.

“The market is selling inventories from everywhere,” Mercuria Chief Executive Officer Marco Dunand said in an interview in Geneva.

Read: http://www.oilandgas360.com/oil-traders ... aign_2015)

Investing.com - Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday, as traders awaited the conclusion of a highly-anticipated meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude October contract was at $50.58 a barrel, up 4 cents or about 0.08% by 07:00 a.m. ET (14:00 GMT), just off the previous session's four-month peak of $50.80.

Elsewhere, Brent oil for November delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London was up 8 cents or about 0.14% at $56.51 a barrel, its highest since April.

Prices have been hovering near multi-month highs in recent sessions, buoyed by bullish demand forecasts from OPEC and the International Energy Agency published late last week.

Market participants quickly put aside Wednesday's report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing that crude stockpiles rose more than expected last week.

Traders are now focused on the conclusion of a meeting in Vienna between OPEC and other producers regarding a possible extension of production caps.

Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Wednesday that his country and other OPEC members are considering options to its production-cut agreement, including an extension beyond March and a deeper output cut.

Last May, Opec and non-Opec members agreed to extend production cuts for a period of nine months until March, but stuck to production cuts of 1.8 million bpd agreed in November last year.

Elsewhere, gasoline futures gained gained 0.33% to $1.651 a gallon, while natural gas futures rose 0.31% to $2.955 per million British thermal units.