Resilient US oil production might unsettle OPEC’s non-OPEC production forecast

OPEC has issued their expectations that non-OPEC crude oil production is likely to drop fast given lower oil price is creating immense pressure in the sector. There has already been 24 corporate bankruptcies in US, in relation to lower energy/oil price.

According to OPEC, production outside the cartel is likely to drop by 1 million barrels/day from current 58.2 million barrels/day by 2017. Most of the expected production cuts are expected from North America.

While bulls were just getting ready latest report from EIA soured the mood. US crude oil production has risen unexpectedly in July, for first time in three months against popular expectations that lower price, led to slower production.

• Production rose to 9.358 million barrels/day in July, up from 9.29 million barrels/day in previous month. Major portion of rise came from Gulf of Mexico, where production rose by 147,000 barrels/day.

Traders are baffled by the rise -

• When US Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted production to slide to, 9.24 million barrels/day.
• Crude price for the period dropped by 21%.

Heading into non-farm, WTI crude is continuing its triangular consolidation with key support around $43/barrel and resistance at $48/barrel.

WTI is currently trading at $45.8/barrel.