Gold Prices Fall Amid Rate Jitters; Copper Steady as China Stimulus Eyed 
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 rose to 10.37 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 declined from 800 to 796, the highest since April 2015. The numbers of operating rigs have increased more than 150 percent since bottoming in May 2016.
- Venezuela crisis: Crisis continues in Venezuela. The latest production survey by platts showed that the production declined to just 1.57 million barrels per day. There are unconfirmed reports that China and Russia working together to save Venezuela while the United States is preparing for another round of sanctions.
- Iran’s desire to produce more: Iran’s oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said that OPEC could agree at its next meeting to start easing on the output cuts. He said that Iran is likely to push for its own increase in production, According to unconfirmed reports, Iran is looking to increase its production quota from current 3.8 million barrels per day to 4 million barrels per day.
- Production surveys: According to Reuters’ production survey, OPEC’s compliance with the output agreement has hit a new high of 149 percent, largely due to declining Venezuela’s production. The survey suggests that 12-member production declined by 60,000 barrels per day to 29.36 million barrels per day. According to Platts’ survey, 14-member production declined to 32.39 million barrels per day in February.
Key global oil benchmarks:
WTI - $61.7 /barrel
Brent - $65.1/barrel
OPEC basket - $61.6/barrel
Urals - $62.4/barrel
Oman - $63.7/barrel
Dubai - $61.6/barrel
Western Canada Select - $36.2/barrel
