A monthly report released on Tuesday by OPEC raised further doubts whether major crude producers will continue their efforts to rebalance the oil market, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April West Texas Intermediate crude fell 68 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $47.72 a barrel, marking a decline for a seventh consecutive session.
On London’s ICE Futures Exchange, May Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost 43 cents, or 0.8%, to end trading at $50.92 a barrel.
OPEC said crude oil production by its cartel members fell by 140,000 barrels a day in February to average 31.96 million barrels a day. OPEC members had pledged to reduce their collective production to no more than 32.5 million barrels a day for six months starting in January.
Secondary OPEC sources also showed that Saudi Arabia’s output was down about 68,100 barrels to 9.797 million barrels a day in February. According to figures provided by the Saudis to OPEC, the country produced 10.011 million barrels in February, up from 9.748 million barrels a day a month earlier.
Domestic crude oil output rose to 9 million barrels a day in February, up 430,000 barrels a day from September 2016, according to the OPEC report. Drilling activity by U.S. shale oil producers is picking up, with output likely to rise by 180,000 barrels a day to average 4.44 million barrels a day in 2017.
