OPEC compliance continues: reports

LONDON, March 1, 2017 – Oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday on reports that OPEC compliance with a production cut deal reached last November was above 90% for a second month in a row.

According to a survey conducted by Reuters, compliance in February stood at 94%, while a separate survey of refiners and traders conducted by the agency found that a majority of them expect Saudi Arabia to raise its Arab Light prices for Asia by at least USD 0.10 in April.

Brent crude futures for May delivery were up about 0.3% to USD 56.70 in midday trade in London following the news, as investors waited for US inventory data for last week later in the afternoon.

“There seems … to be a consensus within OPEC that the optimal crude oil price is as near as possible to the upper line of our shale band price range [USD 40-60 a barrel] but not significantly above,” Olivier Jakob, an expert at Petromatrix, told Reuters.

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