Gulsen Cagatay
15 May 2020•Update: 15 May 2020
ANKARA
Global oil prices showed gains on Friday with a fall in US stocks after 15 successive weeks of increases and on concerns over a second wave of COVID-19.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $31.95 per barrel at 6.45 GMT on Friday, up from $29.52 per barrel on Thursday.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $28.28 at the same time on Friday compared to $25.58 a barrel on Thursday.
In the US, commercial crude oil inventories posted their first decline last week since January after 15 successive weeks of increases. Inventories decreased by 700,000 barrels against the market expectation of a rise of 4.1 million barrels.
Signs of a gradual rebalancing in the global oil market can be seen, although these are still fragile, according to the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday.
In an IEA webcast news conference, Executive Director Fatih Birol identified three catalysts to this market rebalancing period, the first being lower oil demand, the second the production profile of OPEC+ producers, and lastly and the most significant is the oil output cuts made by oil-producing countries outside of OPEC+.
The IEA's report on Thursday declared April an extraordinary month for oil markets with massive oversupplies from COVID-19 demand destruction.
OPEC crude oil output for the month was up 2.38 million barrel per day (mb/d) month on month (m-o-m) and stood at 30.73 mb/d.
For May, the IEA estimates that global oil supply is set to fall by a spectacular 12 mb/d to a nine-year low of 88 mb/d, as the OPEC+ agreement takes effect and global production declines.
