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 9.78 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 declined from 747 to 742. The numbers of operating rigs have increased more than 140 percent since bottoming in May last year.
   
• Iranian protests: Reports suggest that protesters have been defeated across the country amid communications cutoff, brutal crackdown, and deployment of Iran’s revolutionary guards.  
   
• Venezuela crisis: Crisis continues in Venezuela. A country which has the largest reserve of crude oil is reportedly running low on gasoline. The oil production is dwindling too. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that his country will issue cryptocurrencies worth $5.9 billion backed by oil.   
   
• Trump administration and offshore drilling: The Trump administration just proposed the most sweeping offshore drilling plan in history, a proposal that calls for opening up the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for drilling, while also opening up parts of the Gulf of Mexico that have been off limits. 
   

Key global oil benchmarks:

WTI - $61.6/barrel

Brent - $67.8/barrel

OPEC basket - $65.9/barrel

Urals - $67.2/barrel

Oman - $66.4/barrel

Dubai - $65.1/barrel

Western Canada Select - $36.6/barrel