Oil holds in familiar range as investors weigh output cuts, rising U.S. supply

Investing.com - Oil prices swung between small gains and losses in a familiar trading range during European morning hours on Thursday, as market players continued to weigh the prospect of production cuts by major crude-producing nations against a rise in U.S. supplies.

Crude oil for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on 3 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $53.13 a barrel by 4:05AM ET (09:05GMT), after declining 7 cents, or about 0.2%, on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Brent oil for April delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London inched up 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $55.80 a barrel. The global benchmark slipped 22 cents, or 0.4%, a day earlier.

OPEC and non-OPEC countries have made a strong start to lowering their oil output under the first such pact in more than a decade as global producers look to reduce oversupply and support prices.

Latest data showed the group’s production in January declined by 890,000 barrels a day from the previous month to 32.14 million barrels a day. The drop indicates a 90% compliance level so far by producers who had agreed to curtail their output.

January 1 marked the official start of the deal agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC member countries such as Russia in November last year to reduce output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day to 32.5 million for the next six months.

Gains were limited amid ongoing concerns over rising U.S. oil and fuel stockpiles. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that crude supplies rose by 9.5 million barrels last week to an all-time high of 518.0 million barrels.

Gasoline stocks rose 2.8 million barrels, pushing inventories of the fuel to a record at 259.0 million barrels.

Futures have been trading in a narrow range around the lower-to-mid-$50s over the past two months as sentiment in oil markets has been torn between hopes that oversupply may be curbed by output cuts announced by major global producers and expectations of a rebound in U.S. shale production.

U.S. drilling activity has risen by almost 7% since mid-2016, taking it back to levels seen in late 2014, when strong U.S. crude output contributed to a collapse in oil prices.

Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for March tacked on 0.5 cents, or 0.4%, to $1.554 a gallon, while March heating oil added 0.5 cents ,or 0.3%, to $1.635 a gallon.

Natural gas futures for March delivery shed 0.8 cents, or 0.3%, to $2.917 per million British thermal units.

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