Oil gains on supply cuts

SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose on Monday, with the market set to rise for five of seven sessions as a global supply glut appears to ease, but rising US production limited gains.
Brent crude oil climbed 0.8 percent to $56.44 per barrel by 0740 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added 0.7 percent to $54.35 a barrel.
Oil prices tumbled on Friday after data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed US crude inventories rose for a seventh straight week.
But the market has been supported within a tight $4 to $5 range since November, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers agreed to cut production.
EIA data showed stocks rose 564,000 barrels to 518.7 million last week.
“However, it was the lowest increase over the past couple of months. If this trend of lower imports and smaller gains in inventories persists over the coming weeks, it would suggest that the OPEC-led production cuts are starting to have an impact,” ANZ said in a note.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) put OPEC’s average compliance at a record 90 percent in January, and based on a Reuters average of production surveys, it stands at 88 percent.
Money managers raised their net long US crude futures and options positions in the week to Feb. 21, to the highest on record, based on data going back to at least 2009, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.
“The market is trading in a range. OPEC supply cuts are putting a base under the market at this stage,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.
On the technical front, Brent oil may break support at $55.93 per barrel and fall more toward the next support at $54.81, as its consolidation within a wedge has not completed, according to Reuters analyst Wang Tao.
US oil may slide further to support at $53.37 per barrel, as suggested by a Fibonacci projection analysis and a rising channel.