Investing.com - Oil prices edged down on Thursday morning in Asia, as U.S. crude inventories surged for the sixth straight week. OPEC also boosted oil production in October to its highest level since 2016.
Crude Oil WTI Futures for December delivery fell 0.31% to $65.12 per barrel at 10:45PM ET (02:45 GMT) on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while London’s Intercontinental Exchange showed that Brent Oil Futures for January 2019 delivery also dropped 0.29% to $74.82 a barrel.
Oil prices had the worst monthly performance since July 2016 in the previous session, with Brent falling by 8.8% and crude tumbling 10.9%.
U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed that crude stocks rose for the sixth straight week, reaching 1.08 million barrels per day (bpd) in the week to Oct. 26. (Source) U.S. crude production stood at 11.3 million barrels per day in August, up 3.8% compared to July, and had surged 22.7% from August last year.
“The strong built in oil inventories is likely to keep downward pressure on oil prices, “ANZ Research analysts told Reuters.
A survey from Reuters also showed that OPEC’s oil production in October was 33.31 million bpd, up 390,000 bpd from September and the highest since December 2016. The organization agreed to boost oil output to cool the price surge and compensate for the decrease in Iranian output due to U.S. sanctions.
The largest jump in production comes from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose output skyrocketed by 200,000bpd to 3.25 million bpd, followed by Libya’s average 1.22 million bpd, the survey found. The de-facto OPEC leader pumped 10.65 million bpd in October, close to a record high.
Elsewhere, China’s oil giant Sinopec is reportedly in talks with government authorities and Iranian suppliers concerning its purchases of Iranian oil, seeking to make special arrangements in the following weeks, according to S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Platts. China is by far the largest buyer of Iran’s crude, with Sinopec accounting for two thirds of the country’s imports.
S&P Global Platts estimated that China’s crude imports in October and November stand at 580,000 bpd and 642,000 bpd respectively.