Oil markets
were firm on Monday and remained near multi-month highs reached late last week
as the number of U.S. rigs drilling for new production fell and refineries
continued to start up after getting knocked out by Hurricane Harvey.
U.S. West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at 50.0 dollars per barrel at 0547
GMT, and close to the more than three-month high of 50.50 dollars reached last
Thursday.
Brent crude
futures, benchmark for oil prices outside the United States, were at 55.71
dollars a barrel, up 9 cents and not far from the almost five- month high of
55.99 dollars touched on Thursday. Brent was 56 dollars on Wednesday.
“Demand
forecasts from OPEC and IEA… continued to improve sentiment in the market.
Refineries are also reporting a much better recovery from the recent
hurricanes,” ANZ bank said on Monday.
Royal Dutch
Shell’s Deer Park refinery in Texas was among the latest, beginning its restart
on Sunday. The plant can process 325,700 barrels per day.
The refinery
restarts are occurring “as signs emerge of stalling growth in the U.S. shale
industry. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. fell sharply last
week,” ANZ said.
U.S. energy
firms cut seven oil rigs in the week to Sept. 15, bringing the total count down
to 749, the fewest since June, energy services company Baker Hughes said on
Friday.
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