For next week expect oil prices to edge upward - forecast

For next week expect oil prices to edge upward. This forecast is provided to Portnews by Marine Bunker Exchange.  

All prices stated in USD / Mton

All time high Brent = $147.50 (July 11, 2008)

All time high Light crude (WTI) = $147.27 (July 11, 2008) 

Brent crude oil futures rose more than $1 to a three months high on Thursday, after China’s customs agency reported overseas sales jumped 14 percent in December from a year earlier. News of a sharp cut in Saudi production also influenced the oil price, plus an explosion in Yemen that halted most of the country’s oil exports.

 Saudi Arabia cut its crude oil production by around 700 000 barrels a day over the last two months of last year, with December output at around 9.0 barrels per day. The Centre for Global Energy Studies have said the kingdom needs to trim output to prevent markets from being oversupplied.

 A rebound in China ‘s trade may give policy makers more time to shift the economy toward domestic consumption to sustain expansion. Growth decreased to an estimated 13-year low in 2012 as Europe’s debt crisis crimped demand for Chinese goods.

 Flows of oil through Yemen’s main crude export pipeline stopped on Thursday after it was blown up by unknown attackers, government and oil industry officials said.

 The above three factors, Saudi, Yemen and China data are all helping to push up the market.