The price of a barrel of oil on the London market on Friday was 51.76 USD, which is 0.7 % more than last week when it recorded a decrease by more than 8 %. When it comes to the American market, the price of a barrel was increased by 0.6 %, and it amounted to 48.78 USD.
Oil prices have not oscillated too much last week because the most important news still show that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced production in accordance with the last year’s agreement, while production in the US grows.
Therefore, the imbalance between oversupply and lack of strong demand is not reduced as much as it was recently expected.
The data show that the stocks of raw oil in the United States fell from record levels in the last seven days, but only slightly, which does not indicate stronger growth in demand.
Saudi Minister for Energy Khalid al-Falih said that period of decrease of production of OPEC might be continued even after June, which is the agreed deadline, if oil reserves remain above long-term average.
Saudi Arabia has reduced production even above the agreed quotas, so the question is whether it is ready for further cuts, due to the fact that several members of OPEC and independent producers are not respecting the agreement.
(Source: klix.ba)