OIL PRICE: ABOUT $64

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG  - Crude prices firmed on Wednesday supported by expectations of a fall in U.S. inventories and the continued outage of the North Sea Forties pipeline system.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were up 29 cents at $64.09 a barrel by 1438 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were 26 cents higher at $57.82 a barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels in the week to Dec. 15 to 438.7 million.

Official U.S. government data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due later on Wednesday.

"The API is the reason why the energy complex is slightly up this morning," said Tamas Varga, analyst with PVM Oil Associates.

Oil prices have also been supported by the continuing outage of Britain's Forties pipeline in the North Sea, which delivers crude underpinning Brent futures.

Operator Ineos [INEOSH.UL] said repairs to the pipeline were under way on Wednesday after a crack was found that closed the pipeline on Dec. 11.

Ineos has a timescale of two to four weeks for the repairs starting from Dec. 11.

Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday that it expects global oil inventories will have rebalanced by mid-2018, "leading to a gradual exit from the cuts and increases in OPEC and Russia production through second half 2018".

The bank added that a ramp-up in OPEC production and rising non-OPEC output "will leave risks skewed to lower prices" in the second half of next year.

OPEC and 10 other producers led by Russia last month extended an agreement to cut oil production by 1.8 million bpd until the end of next year.

The alliance is targeting the elimination of an oil glut to bring inventories in the developed world back to the five-year moving average.

Traders said rising U.S. crude production, which has soared by 16 percent since mid-2016 to 9.8 million bpd, was capping prices.

"Expectations of higher U.S. shale production into January hamstrung crude's price increase," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore.

Most analysts expect U.S. output to break through 10 million bpd soon, which would be a new record and take it to levels on a par with top exporter Saudi Arabia and close to top producer Russia, which pumps around 11 million bpd.

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Earlier:

2017, December, 18, 12:50:00 OIL PRICE: BELOW $64 YET REUTERS - Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $63.72 a barrel at 0821 GMT, up 49 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last close. Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $63.72 a barrel at 0821 GMT, up 49 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last close. Русский | English

2017, December, 18, 12:45:00 ЦЕНА URALS: $62,53932 МИНФИН РОССИИ - Средняя цена на нефть Urals за период мониторинга с 15 ноября по 14 декабря 2017 года составила $62,53932 за баррель, или $456,5 за тонну.

2017, December, 18, 12:40:00 OPTIMISTIC OIL PRICES BLOOMBERG - OPEC’s Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said the producer group is close to its goal of rebalancing markets and the International Energy Agency said oil inventories in developed nations have slid to the lowest since July 2015. OPEC upped the implementation of promised cuts in November to 115 percent, the highest rate since the agreement began, according to the IEA.

2017, December, 15, 13:20:00 OIL PRICE: BELOW $64 REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $57.28 a barrel at 0757 GMT, up 26 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their last settlement. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $63.47 a barrel, up 16 cents, or 0.25 percent, from their previous close. Русский | English

2017, December, 15, 13:15:00 AFRICA NEEDS GOOD PRICE BLOOMBERG - The region’s median government debt level will probably exceed 50 percent of gross domestic product this year from 34 percent in 2013, while the cost of servicing the liabilities will average almost 10 percent compared with half that four years ago, the International Monetary Fund said.

2017, December, 15, 12:50:00 LUKOIL'S PLAN: $50 LUKOIL - The plan is based on the conservative $50 per barrel oil price scenario. Sustainable hydrocarbon production growth is planned in the Upstream business segment along with the growth in the share of high-margin projects in the overall production. In the Downstream business segment, the focus is on the improvement of operating efficiency and selective investment projects targeted at the enhancement of product slate. Русский | English