OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $70 YET

REUTERS - Oil prices rose on Monday, lifted by a drop in U.S. drilling activity as well as by expectations that the United States could re-introduce sanctions against Iran.

U.S. WTI crude futures CLc1 were at $65.21 barrel at 0122 GMT, up 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their previous settlement. 

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were fetching $69.71 per barrel, up 37 cents, or 0.55 percent. 

Shanghai September crude futures ISCc1 were at 415.6 yuan ($66.26) per barrel, up 0.9 percent. 

Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia/Pacific at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore, said oil markets remained nervous about "whether or not the U.S. administration will scrap or maintain the fragile nuclear deal with Iran". 

Innes said prices were also supported by a weekly report that there was a drop in activity of drilling for new oil production in the United States. 

U.S. drillers cut seven oil rigs in the week to March 29, bringing the total count down to 797 Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report last Thursday. It was the first time in three weeks that the rig-count fell. 

Baker Hughes published its North American rig count report on Thursday, one day earlier than usual, due to the Good Friday holiday on March 30. 

Oil prices have generally been supported by supply restraint led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, which started in 2017 in order to rein in oversupply and prop up prices. 

Rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China are likely to weigh on sentiment and could make for volatile trading in the coming days, traders and analysts said. 

China slapped extra tariffs of up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products including frozen pork, as well as wine and certain fruits and nuts, in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminum and steel, the country's finance ministry said on Sunday night. 

"Investors took their cue from falling U.S drilling counts," Wang Xiao, head of crude oil research with Guotai Junan Futures said. "But increasing trade friction between China and U.S. is likely to rock global markets and tarnish bullish sentiment in crude oil markets." 

Trading volumes on Monday are likely to be low as many countries, especially in Europe, will still be on Easter holiday.

-----

Earlier: 

2018, March, 28, 11:30:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $70 REUTERS - U.S. WTI crude futures CLc1 were at $64.72 a barrel by 0700 GMT, down 53 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their previous settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.69 per barrel, down 42 cents, or 0.6 percent.

2018, March, 26, 08:10:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $70 REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $65.51 a barrel at 0255 GMT, down 37 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their previous close. Brent crude futures were at $70.24 per barrel, down 21 cents, or 0.3 percent.

2018, March, 26, 08:00:00 NEW OPEC RECORD: 138% OPEC - Participating OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries have set a new record in February with their voluntary production adjustments, achieving a level of 138%, according to the OPEC-non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC).

2018, March, 26, 07:55:00 $70: INSUFFICIENT FOR INVESTMENTS BLOOMBERG - Oil’s recovery to almost $70 a barrel hasn’t been sufficient to stimulate the return of enough investment in the sector, according to Saudi Arabia’s energy minister.

2018, March, 23, 08:40:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $69 REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $64.99 a barrel at 0405 GMT, up 69 cents, or 1.1 percent, from their previous close. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.54 per barrel, up 63 cents, or 0.9 percent. For the week, Brent was set for a gain of about 5 percent, its strongest showing since July last year, while WTI was up about 4.3 percent.

2018, March, 19, 08:19:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $66 YET REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.02 a barrel at 0350 GMT, down 32 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their previous close. Brent crude futures were at $65.85 per barrel, down 36 cents, or 0.5 percent.

2018, March, 16, 10:40:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $66 ANEW REUTERS - West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil futures for April delivery fell 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $61.16 a barrel at 0354 GMT, after settling up 23 cents on Thursday. WTI is set to fall 1.4 percent this week, reversing the previous week’s 1.3 percent gain. Brent crude futures trading in London fell 7 cents to $65.05 a barrel after settling up 23 cents. Brent is down 0.7 percent for the week. Русский | English