AFP/Getty Images
Crude-oil prices retreated early Monday, putting the commodity on track to register a second decline in a row as evidence of Saudi Arabian oil-production increases and a pickup domestically appeared to offset concerns about expected supply disruptions in Iran and Venezuela.
U.S. benchmark July West Texas Intermediate crude lost 85 cents, or 1.3%, to $64.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after the commodity logged a weekly loss of 0.1% based on Friday’s close for WTI, marking its third weekly fall in a row, according to FactSet data. August Brent crude the global benchmark, shed 84 cents, or 1.1%, to $75.63 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, with a weekly slide of 0.4% for the week.
Late Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the most influential member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Saudi Arabia, had begun to increase its output after two years of leading efforts to curtail global output, with the kingdom boosting production in recent weeks by more than 100,000 barrels a day. That has raised Saudi overall output to about 10 million barrels a day, the report indicated.
Meanwhile, that increase comes after Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil inched up by 1 to 862. The rise follows gains in the previous two weeks. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, added 2 to 1,062.
Elsewhere, Russia reportedly increased its crude output to 11.1 million barrels a day in June, above its agreed production cap of 10.95 million barrels a day, according to Interfax.
“This appears a clear sign from Russia that the time has come to ease production cuts,” according to analysts at ING Bank.
Signs of elevated production come ahead of a closely watched meeting of crude-oil producers set for June 22 in Vienna.
OPEC and 10 producers outside the cartel, including Russia, have been holding back output by around 1.8 million barrels a day since the start of last year. The coordinated supply cuts have helped to boost crude prices by more than 40%. But geopolitical risks to supply out of Iran and Venezuela—two OPEC members—prompted Saudi Arabia and Russia to indicate in recent weeks they could open the taps sooner than planned.
In other energy contracts, July gasoline lost 1.1% to $2.092 a gallon, with prices finishing Friday trade down 1.3% lower for the week, while July heating oil gave up 0.6% to $2.152 a gallon, after booking a weekly decline of about 0.6%.
July natural gas meanwhile, added 2% at $2.949 per million British thermal units, after booking a weekly loss of 2.4%.