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Oil turns positive as Opec calls bottom to market

Producer group predicts imminent rebound in prices prompting market bounce

French president Francois Hollande (R) offers condolences to Saudi King Salman following the death of Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh. Photograph: Reuters

Mon Jan 26 2015 - 14:16

Oil prices turned positive on Monday, erasing early losses after the secretary-general of the Opec producer group said he expected the market to bottom out around current levels.

March Brent crude was trading at $49.13 per barrel earlier, up 34 cents, bouncing from an early low of $47.57. “Now the prices are around $45-$55 and I think maybe they reached the bottom and will see some rebound very soon,” Abdullah al-Badri, secretary-general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in an interview.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for March delivery was at $45.94 a barrel, up 35 cents. Front-month WTI had touched an intraday low of $44.35, just above the $44.20 hit on January13th, which was its lowest level since April 2009. After a smooth transition in Saudi Arabia following the death early on Friday of King Abdullah, both Brent and US crude price fell early on Monday.

The new King, Salman, was quick to retain veteran Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Friday, in a message aimed at calming a jittery market. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, led OPEC in a decision to keep oil production steady at 30 million barrels per day last November. This has fuelled a global supply glut that has more than halved prices since June.

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Money managers cut their net long US crude futures and options positions in the week to January 20th, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday. Oil services firm Baker Hughes published data on Friday that showed the number of US oil rigs fell for a seventh straight week to 1,317, the fewest since January 2013.

Germany-based Commerzbank said that output would remain high in the short term but production from US oil rigs would continue to dwindle in the coming weeks, eventually supporting prices.

“It is only a question of time before this is reflected in decreased oil production,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note to clients on Monday. “In our opinion, this indicates that prices will recover in the second half of the year.”

Reuters

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