Oil in bull market nears $52

Bloomberg

Oil traded near $52 after entering a bull market as US industry data showed an unexpected decline in crude stockpiles, the first decrease since Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast last month and shuttered refineries.
Futures fell 0.2 percent in New York after slipping on Tuesday. Inventories fell by 761,000 barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. That contrasts with a Bloomberg survey, which sees the government reporting a fourth weekly gain later Wednesday.
Forecasts for rising demand, the return of US Gulf Coast refiners following Harvey and Turkey’s threat to halt Kurdistan crude shipments pushed oil into a bull market this week. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia last week said they’re successfully eroding global stockpiles and urged producers not to waver from output-cut targets. Russia signaled it would be willing to prolong curbs further, while making clear its com- -mitment wasn’t open-ended.
“The API numbers did surprise, and I would be even more surprised to see them being repeated,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S. “We have reached a price level with which even OPEC is likely to be satisfied. I’m not sure whether Russia would like to play ball for such an extended period especially into the peak demand season.”
Brent for November settlement lost 51 cents to $57.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after falling 58 cents on Tuesday. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $6.15 to WTI. Gasoline stocks rose by 1.47 million barrels and distillates fell by 4.53 million barrels last week, the
API reported, according to a
person familiar with the data.
U.S. crude inventories probably rose by 3.1 million barrels, according to the Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report.