Friday, April 14, 2017

More Oil Woes

As the price of oil remains fairly low, there's a new complicating factor. Global oil demand is expected to grow at a slower pace for the second year in a row in 2016, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.

OPEC launched an effort this year to cut almost 1.8 million barrels a day of oil, with help from other countries, including Russia, the world’s largest crude producer. And OPEC’s oil production fell by 365,000 barrels a day in March.

But it doesn't seem to be enough to lift prices. The IEA said the production cuts so far have had just a limited effect on massive levels of stored oil, which built up in 2015 and 2016 as traders bought cheap crude to sell later at higher prices. Combined with slack demand, that may keep prices low for some time.

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