25 February 2019•Update: 25 February 2019
By Gulsen Cagatay and Ovunc Kutlu
ANKARA
International benchmark Brent crude decreased to $67 per barrel at 1230 GMT while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell to $56.97 a barrel on Monday.
On Friday, Brent closed at $67.25 per barrel while WTI traded at $57.11 per barrel at the same time.
Brent crude price reached a three-month high for week ending Feb. 22 supported by the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to pause rate hikes this year while pushing the American dollar lower.
On Thursday, both benchmarks recorded their highest levels since Nov. 16. Brent climbed to as high as $67.69 per barrel on Friday while the price of WTI hit as high as $57.61 on Thursday, according to official data.
However, the number of oil rigs in the U.S., an indicator of short-term oil production in the U.S., decreased on Friday, Feb. 22 by four down to 853, according to data released by oilfield services company Baker Hughes on Friday, resulting in some crude price gains.
Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and Russia-led non-OPEC agreed on Dec. 7 to lower their crude production in order to rid some of the glut of supply in the global oil market and push prices higher.
The U.S.' sanctions on Venezuela and Iran make it harder for those countries to export their crude oil to the global market.
In addition, the U.S.' record-high crude oil production is keeping a downward pressure on crude prices.
Crude oil production in the U.S. reached a new all-time highest level of 12 million barrels per day (mbpd) for the week ending Feb. 15, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.
The U.S.' crude output had increased to record high levels of 11.7 mbpd for the week ending Nov. 9, and to 11.9 mbpd for the week ending Jan. 11.
Crude oil production in the country is expected to average 12.4 mbpd in 2019 and 13.2 mbpd in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Short Term Energy Outlook report for February.
