OIL PRICE: ABOVE $63

REUTERS -  Oil prices slipped on Thursday after U.S. crude inventories swelled to their highest level since December 2017 amid concerns of an emerging global glut, although the potential for a supply cut by OPEC prevented further drops.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, were at $54.35 per barrel at 0534 GMT, 28 cents, or 0.5 percent below their last settlement.

Front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $63.25 per barrel, down 23 cents, or 0.4 percent.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 4.9 million barrels to 446.91 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a weekly report on Wednesday. That was the highest level since December last year.

U.S. crude oil production remained at a record 11.7 million barrels per day (bpd), the EIA said.

"U.S. inventory data...continued to show significant supply builds, which comes on the back of sustained record U.S. crude oil production," said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore.

Some analysts have warned that despite high global production, oil markets have little spare capacity to handle unforeseen supply disruptions.

However, Innes said that once U.S. pipeline bottlenecks were alleviated, which he said he expected in 2019, "the entire notion of a tight global spare capacity argument goes down the well".

A lot of U.S. and also Canadian oil is struggling to get to market because production increases have outpaced pipeline expansions to handle shipping the crude.

As a result, Canada's federal government is considering a proposal from its main oil producing province of Alberta to share the cost of buying rail cars to move oil stuck in the region to refineries in the United States.

Meanwhile, the Middle East-dominated the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is worried about the emergence of a supply glut that could further pull down prices.

To counter that, the producer group is considering supply cuts when it next meets on Dec. 6, although some members, like Iran, are expected to resist any voluntary reductions.

"While there is talk that OPEC plus Russia may again agree to a production cut, the concern is that not all relevant parties will be able to come to an agreement," said William O'Loughlin, investment analyst at Australia's Rivkin Securities.

"Saudi Arabia has hinted at a unilateral cut, but it will want to be careful about annoying the U.S. given that President Trump has been vocal about his desire for lower oil prices," he added.

Trump on Wednesday praised Saudi Arabia over recent oil prices and called for prices to go even lower.

"Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy!... Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let's go lower!" Trump tweeted.

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Earlier: 

2018, November, 19, 11:50:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $67 REUTERS - Front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $67.41 per barrel at 0746 GMT, up 65 cents, or 1 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, were up 76 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $57.22 per barrel.

2018, November, 16, 10:10:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $67 YET REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $56.84 per barrel at 0353 GMT, up 38 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last settlement. Brent crude oil futures were up 48 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $67.10 per barrel.

2018, November, 16, 09:30:00 SAUDIS ARE ANGRY REUTERS - “The Saudis are very angry at Trump. They don’t trust him any more and feel very strongly about a cut. They had no heads-up about the waivers,” said one senior source briefed on Saudi energy policies.

2018, November, 14, 12:25:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $65 REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $55.52 per barrel at 0732 GMT, down 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement. International benchmark Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were down 9 cents at $65.38 per barrel.

2018, November, 14, 12:15:00 OIL MARKET UNCERTAINTY CNBC - Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest producer and the world's top crude exporter, intends to cut shipments by 500,000 barrels a day in December, Khalid al Falih, the country's energy minister said on Sunday. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday he wasn't convinced the oil market would be oversupplied in 2019. Russia is the world's second biggest oil producer after the United States and, along with Saudi Arabia, plays an influential role in the oil alliance.

2018, November, 12, 12:30:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $71 REUTERS - Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1, a benchmark for global oil prices, were at $71.59 per barrel at 0749 GMT, up 2 percent from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 1.6 percent to $61.15 per barrel.

2018, November, 12, 12:25:00 CONFORMITY LEVEL 104% OPEC - In advance of the scheduled meetings in December 2018, the JMMC directed the JTC to continue closely monitoring oil market conditions and further refine the scenario analysis based on updated data, with regard to options on new 2019 production adjustments, which may require new strategies to balance the market. Русский | English