geopolitics

Brent crude futures briefly touched $67.73 a barrel on Friday, their 2019 high. The London contract then fell 5 cents to settle at $67.12 a barrel while US futures US gained 30 cents to settle at $57.26 per barrel, after hitting $57.81 earlier in the day.  

Prices moved higher last week as the markets perceived that production problems in Venezuela and elsewhere might outweigh any decline in demand that could take place if global economic growth slows.

Oil prices have moved very little in the past month closing on Friday at $52.72 in NY and $62.10 in London or about where they were in the first week of January.  

Oil prices continue to hover in the low $50s in the US and low $60s in London – about where they have been since early January.

Oil prices continue to climb steadily closing up about $3-4 a barrel by the end of last week.  Behind the move are concerns that US shale oil production this year may not be as strong as forecast; lower OPEC production; and reports that the US and China are making progress towards ending their trade war.

Oil prices continued to climb last week and are now some $10 a barrel higher than they were just before Christmas when recent lows were set.

Since hitting a recent low on Dec 22nd, oil prices have climbed by $5-6 a barrel as the markets tried to sort out where supply and demand are going.

It was a volatile week for oil prices with WTI falling on Monday to nearly $42 a barrel and London falling to $51.  Oil surged on Wednesday, after posting on Christmas day its strongest daily gain in more than two years from the steep losses on Monday that pushed crude benchmarks to lows not seen since 2017.

Oil prices fell by more than 11 percent last week to their lowest since mid-2017 with London futures closing at $53.82 and New York at $45.59.  

Oil prices were volatile last week trading inside a narrow range of about $1.50 a barrel and climbing or falling in response to the news of the day.  

Oil prices surged briefly on Friday after the announcement of a 1.2 million b/d OPEC+ production cut; however, by the close NY futures were up only $1.61 to close at $52.61, and London was up about the same to close at $61.67.  

US oil production continued to climb in September with oil companies producing a record 11.47 million b/d, 1.98 million b/d higher than in September 2017 (it takes two months to get reliable numbers accumulated).