August 15, 2022
Oil prices fell on Monday, following the head of Saudi Aramco said it was ready to raise production while production resumed at several US offshore oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico following a short break last week.
Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.3%, to $97.88 a barrel, following settling down 1.5% from Friday’s price.
The price of US West Texas crude was $91.87 a barrel, down 22 cents, or 0.2%, following a 2.4 percent drop from Friday’s price.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told reporters on Sunday that the company was ready to increase its crude oil production to its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day, if requested by the Saudi government.
“We are confident in our ability to increase our production to 12 million barrels per day, at any time when necessary or when the government or the Ministry of Energy requests to increase our production,” Nasser said.
He added that China’s easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the recovery in the aviation industry might increase demand.
Investors are looking to Chinese economic data later on Monday for demand signals from the world’s largest importer of crude oil.
Oil prices rebounded more than 3% last week, following oil pipeline damage disrupted production at several offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
A Louisiana official said producers moved to reactivate some stalled production, following repairs were completed late Friday.
Energy services firm Baker Hughes reported Friday that the number of US oil rigs rose by 3 to 601 last week.
The increase in the number of rigs, an early indicator of future production, is so slow that oil production will not recover from the epidemic-related cuts until next year.