Oil steadied above $57 a barrel in New York as the threat of supply disruptions from the North Sea to OPEC member Nigeria and reduced U.S. drilling all suggested the global surplus may continue to fade.
Futures added 0.5 percent in New York, matching Friday’s gain. U.S. explorers trimmed the number of rigs by four to 747 last week, according to Baker Hughes data. A Nigerian oil union announced an indefinite strike while the country’s fellow OPEC members pressed on with efforts to clear a crude surplus. Ineos repeated that a crack in a North Sea pipeline will take two to four weeks to fix.
Oil is set for a second yearly gain as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies trim production to drain a global glut. While the group has extended cuts through the end of 2018, it faces a challenge from output in the U.S., which is forecast to surge next year to a record 10 million barrels a day.
“Investors remain bullish on oil as global growth looks strong, OPEC has extended cuts throughout 2018 and geopolitical risk has made its way back to the oil market,” said Jens Naervig Pedersen, an analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen.
WTI for January delivery, which expires Tuesday, rose 30 cents to $57.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 1:28 p.m. in London. Total volume traded was about 30 percent below the 100-day average.
Brent for February settlement gained 29 cents to $63.52 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices fell 0.3 percent last week. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $5.92 to February WTI.
The Brent net-long position — the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a drop — rose 1.8 percent to a record 544,051 contracts, according to data from ICE Futures Europe. Money managers cut their WTI net-long position by 0.4 percent to 390,874 futures and options in the week ended Dec. 12, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Friday.
Source: Bloomberg