Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,
One of the key objectives for OPEC is to bring down inventories, a goal that has been elusive this year. But if the oil futures curve is anything to go by, the oil market is showing signs of tightening.
A surge in Libyan oil production in July sent total OPEC output higher by 172.6kbpd last month to 32.87mmbpd, the highest monthly production this year, as Saudi production also hit a 2017 high of 10.067mmbpd, up 31.8kbpd on the month the latest OPEC monthly market report revealed. Nigeria - which like Libya is exempt from the supply cuts agreed upon in last year's Vienna meeting - saw another month of rising crude production, with its total supply rising by 34.3kbpd to 1.748mmbpd.
Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 0.8% after Apple surged to record highs following a strong beat and optimistic projections ahead of the launch of the company's new batch of iPhones. Eminis are little changed, up 0.1% to 2,475, trailing Asian markets, while European stocks and crude oil fall.
After both Brent and WTI rose above their respective 50DMAs on Friday, capping 2017's best weekly rally for oil, the rising tide is accelerating as the latest CFTC COT data confirmed, when net specs boosted bullish Nymex WTI crude oil bets by 27K net-long positions to 423K, the highest in two months, as producers continued to cover short hedges, sending their net position to the most bullish since the summer of 2015.
WTI crude remains stuck ominously below $46 despite a full court press jawboning, headline-pumping effort this morning. As oil leaders meet in St.Petersburg, Saudis promised to cut exports further, Nigeria suggested it would limit output (at dramatically higher-than-current production), Russia offered hope that Q3 had "big potential", and OPEC suiggested tighter compliance monitoring (as cheating has picked up in recent months).. but oil just won't budge.