Oil Breaks $67 Shrugging Off Glut Concerns

Oil prices steadied above $67 a barrel in choppy trading on Thursday as the market shook off concerns surrounding the overall glut of crude in the Atlantic Basin.

The focus turned to last week’s drawdown in U.S. crude stockpiles and spot demand for crude oil in Asia, sidestepping questions surrounding U.S. production growth and shaky economic data globally.

“There are a lot of movements…but the strength in Asia is starting to filter through,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst with Energy Aspects.

June Brent crude LCOc1 was trading 39 cents higher at $67.20 a barrel as of 1139 GMT (7.39 a.m. EDT), after trading as low as $66.32. U.S. crude CLc1 for June delivery, at $60.60, was 10 cents higher, after touching $59.82.

Despite this, lingering oversupply led some to question prices that are still within touching distance of the 2015 highs reached last week.

While crude stocks in the United States fell for the second week, by 2.2 million barrels, following four months of steady gains, stockpiles were still almost 90 million barrels higher than this time last year. [EIA/S]

“One thing is for sure, there is no prospect of a global oil supply shortage in the foreseeable future,” said Tamas Varga of PVM.

via Reuters

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