Thursday, as a strong demand in the United States occurs, the price of oil pushed higher. The Brent crude futures had risen for approximately 18 cents, or 0.4%, to $47.97 per barrel. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up by 19 cents or 0.4% at $45.32 per barrel. These have been a great boost for the oil, considering its unstable price rangers for the past weeks. However, overall market conditions remain weak.
On Wednesday, despite its pledge to cut production between January (2017) and March 2018 to prop up prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have raised it exports, making oil prices tumble for about 4%.
OPEC exported 25.92 million barrels per day in June, 450,000 barrels per day above May and 1.9million barrels per day more than a year earlier.
In addition to this, BAML or Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that against expectations, OECD total oil inventories are still above 3 billion barrels and the recovery in Libyan and Nigerian supplies, together with a fast return of U.S. shale should prevent unreasonable stock draws ahead.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch also added that it was cutting its WTI forecasts to an average of $47 per barrel this year and $50 in 2018, down from $52 and $53 previously. The bank also cut its average Brent forecasts to $50 this year and $52 per barrel in 2018, which is down from $54 and $56 before.