January 20, 2017, 09:06 / Finance / News

Brent is trading at $54.37 per barrel

At 8.52 Moscow time on January 20, March Brent futures were trading on the ICE Futures exchange at $54.37 per barrel. On Thursday, during the trading session, these contracts rose in price by $0.24 (0.45%) to $54.16 per barrel, reports Interfax . February futures for WTI in New York on Friday morning were trading at $51.5 per barrel; on Thursday they rose by $0.29 (0.57%) to $51.37 per barrel.

On Friday, quotes are rising on data about a decrease in oil reserves at the largest oil terminal in the United States in Cushing, as well as on signals about a reduction in production by oil-producing countries.

The US Department of Energy last Thursday reported the largest decrease in oil reserves since October at the Cushing terminal, where oil traded on the New York Stock Exchange is stored: the volume of reserves decreased by 1.27 million barrels, Interfax recalls. Overall, over the previous week, US oil inventories increased by 2.35 million barrels, and oil production fell for the first time in three weeks.

From a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), released on Thursday, it follows that oil production in OPEC countries is declining while reserves of raw materials in countries that are major oil consumers are decreasing. The IEA, however, warned that OPEC production cuts could be offset by increases in oil production by other countries, including the United States. In December, according to the IEA, production by OPEC countries decreased by 320,000 barrels per day to 33.09 million b/d.

According to preliminary data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for December, oil reserves in these countries fell by 85 million barrels from a record level recorded in July last year.