Oil prices dip as rising US output offsets Opec-led cuts

[SINGAPORE] Oil prices dipped on Tuesday as rising US drilling activity offset efforts by Opec and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at US$55.16 per barrel at 0421 GMT, down 7 cents from their last close.

Since their January peak, Brent has lost over 5.5 per cent in value.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at US$52.44 a barrel, down 19 cents from their previous settlement, and WTI is down 2.85 per cent since its January peak.

The falls reflect a sentiment that efforts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to cut output by almost 1.8 barrel per day (bpd) in order to end overproduction were so far not big enough to offset rising US drilling.

"Crude oil prices continued to struggle as traders remained concerned about increasing drilling activity in the US," ANZ bank said on Tuesday.

Following months of rising drilling activity, US oil production has risen by 6.3 per cent since July last year to almost 9 million bpd, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

US bank Goldman Sachs estimates that year-on-year US oil "production will rise by 290,000 bpd in 2017" if a backlog on rigs that are still to become operational is accounted for.

With the differing outlook between global oil markets and that in the United States, traders said a renewed focus on the spread between Brent and WTI futures has emerged.

The Brent premium over WTI for March delivery is currently over US $2.7 per barrel, reflecting a tighter global market as Opec's cuts bite and a more oversupplied US as drilling continues to rise.

Yet by November this year, this Brent premium is down to just over US$1 a barrel. "You've already seen US crude coming into Asia and Europe, as traders take advantage of arbitrage between the US and the rest of the world," one crude trader in Singapore said. "But at some stage, that exported US crude will get priced into the global market and out of the American one, bringing down the spread between Brent and WTI."

REUTERS