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For its part, OPEC remains concerned about the level of production by U.S. shale producers and the cartel is urging its U.S. rivals to pare output to support prices. Late last year, U.S. output topped 10 million barrels per day for the first time since 1970 and that figure is expected to continue rising before reaching 11 million barrels per day in late 2019.
“While these short-term factors no doubt played a role in pushing up crude benchmarks, they are occurring against a backdrop of a tighter oil market. The surplus of OECD inventories is now below 50 million barrels, whereas it was above 300 million barrels a year ago,” according to OilPrice.com.
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