Light, sweet crude oil prices for April dropped modestly Feb. 24 but still settled at about $54/bbl on Feb. 24 on the New York market despite a climbing US rig count. The US oil futures benchmark has traded at $50-55/bbl for weeks.

Iran will begin exporting 100,000b/d of crude oil to Russia within the next two week, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said.

Средняя цена на нефть Urals за период мониторинга с 15 января 2017 года по 14 февраля 2017 года составила $ 53,24818 за баррель, или $388,7 за тонну.

U.S. crude oil production increased for the second consecutive month in November 2016, the first consecutive monthly increase since April 2015.

The country imported 34.03 million mt of crude in January, down 6.5% from the record high of 36.38 million mt in December despite surging 27.5% on the year.

Oil supplies fell by around 1.5 million barrels per day last month, including by 1 million bpd for OPEC, leading to record initial compliance of 90 percent with a six-month output-cut deal reached in December by big producers to boost prices.

International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at 54.70 per barrel at 0758 GMT, down 35 cents, or 0.64 percent, from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was at $51.68 a barrel, down 49 cents, or 0.94 percent.

EIA forecasts Brent crude oil prices to average $55/b in 2017 and $57/b in 2018. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices are forecast to average about $1/b less than Brent prices in 2017. The NYMEX contract values for April 2017 delivery traded during the five-day period ending February 2 suggest that a range from $45/b to $65/b encompasses the market expectation of WTI prices in April 2017 at the 95% confidence level.

Saudi Arabia's crude oil supplies to Japan rose to a 10-year high in 2016, underlining the kingdom's strong will to defend its share in the ever competitive Asian markets.

"Over the course of the past year, Iran and Venezuela had very close stances and we were supportive of each other in many instances," said the Iranian official.

International Brent crude futures were trading at $56.96 per barrel at 0750 GMT, up 15 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 18 cents at $54.01 a barrel.

International Brent crude futures were trading at $56.96 per barrel at 0750 GMT, up 15 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 18 cents at $54.01 a barrel.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 25 cents at $55.83 a barrel at 0954 GMT, having traded in a narrow 53-cent range so far in the session. U.S. crude CLc1 rose 26 cents to $53.07.

Light, sweet crude oil prices on the New York market and Brent crude oil prices on the London market surged by more than $1/bbl on Feb. 1 as traders and analysts shrugged off a big jump in the US oil inventory report.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, raised pricing for March sales to buyers from the U.S. to Asia as output cuts by OPEC and other producers shore up oil prices.