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 declined to 9.92 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 rose from 759 to 765. The numbers of operating rigs have increased more than 150 percent since bottoming in May last year.
   
• Kurdistan: After a battle between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraq led to sharp drop in oil production late last year, latest report suggests that the production is once again returning to normal.
   
• 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. The latest survey report by Reuters suggests that production declined to just 1.6 million barrels per day in January.   
   
• OPEC compliance: According to the latest production survey by Reuters, the OPEC compliance has hit 138 percent in January. The sharp drop in Venezuela’s production pushed the country’s compliance to 492 percent.

Key global oil benchmarks:

WTI - $65.2/barrel

Brent - $68/barrel

OPEC basket - $67.1/barrel

Urals - $67.1/barrel

Oman - $66.6/barrel

Dubai - $65.1/barrel

Western Canada Select - $37.5/barrel