Oil in Global Economy Series: Key oil market updates

While the oil market continues to focus on supply/demand fundamentals, these are some key updates that you need to keep a tab on,

• U.S. oil rig count: The United States is continuing to see a surge in production. According to the latest report, the production has reached 9.75 million barrels per day. Despite fewer rigs operating compared to 2014/15, the production efficiency has pushed the overall production higher.  As of latest report, the numbers of operating rigs have remained unchanged at 747 for a third consecutive week. The numbers of operating rigs have increased more than 140 percent since bottoming in May last year.
   
• Iranian protests: Large-scale protests have been taking place in Iran, where police station has been attacked and more than 10 people have died. This is the worst political crisis, the country is facing since the election of Ahmadinejad in 2008.  
   
• Venezuela crisis: Crisis continues in Venezuela. A country which has the largest reserve of crude oil is reportedly running low on gasoline.
   
• Libyan pipeline: Libya’s oil pipeline that was blown out last week will take a week to repair, according to the Chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC).  
   

Key global oil benchmarks:

WTI - $60.5/barrel

Brent - $66.9/barrel

OPEC basket - $64.5/barrel

Urals - $66.5/barrel

Oman - $65.6/barrel

Dubai - $64.5/barrel

Western Canada Select - $35/barrel